Steven Theede, chief executive of Yukos, spent yesterday defending the company’s right to file for bankruptcy in the US.
A US citizen who has been chief since June last year, Mr Theede told a Senate hearing that the embattled oil giant would not have received a fair hearing in Russia.
A court in Houston is charged with deciding whether to let the company continue Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in the US.
An expert on Russian law has testified that insolvent companies have to file for bankruptcy in their home country. Yukos made a bankruptcy filing in the US in December in a desperate attempt to block the forced sale of Yuganskneftegaz, its key production unit, by the Russian Government — which is seeking almost $28 billion (£14.8 billion) in back taxes.
Deutsche Bank and Gazpromneft, formerly part of the Russian gas giant Gazprom, have challenged the US District Court’s jurisdiction, claiming Yukos manufactured reasons to have its case heard in the US.
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Deutsche Bank had planned to fund Gazpromneft’s takeover of Yuganskneftegaz.
After the bankruptcy filing in Houston, Judge Letitia Clark put a stay on the Russian auction but the Government went ahead with the sale.
Gazpromneft lost the auction and the unit was sold to a shell company, which was then sold to Rosneft, the Russian state oil company that is set to merge with Gazprom.