Yukos Refuses to Pay Full Bill.

(From The Moscow Times)

Yukos is refusing to pay the $3.4 billion tax bill that the Moscow Arbitration Court upheld in a landmark ruling earlier this week and is proposing to pay one-third of that sum instead, a source close to the company said Wednesday.

The tough stance on settlement came as the embattled oil major continued to wait for an order from the Federal Tax Service enforcing payment of the bill. The order could come within a week and lead to asset seizures or bankruptcy, as the company does not have enough cash to immediately pay it in full.

It also came as Anton Drel, a lawyer for Yukos' founder and largest shareholder Mikhail Khodorkovsky, warned that his client said Wednesday that there were only two alternatives following the court's ruling: an agreement, or bankruptcy -- a crisis scenario that President Vladimir Putin has said is not in the government's interests.

"[Khodorkovsky] said that the company needs to act in accordance with the decision of the court, even though this decision has no legal precedent," Drel said by telephone Wednesday after meeting with Khodorkovsky in Matrosskaya Tishina jail, where the oil magnate has been incarcerated since October on charges of large-scale fraud and tax evasion.

"But he said it all depends on which path will be chosen," Drel said.

"There are only two paths," he cited his client as saying. "One that will cause damage to all the company shareholders, including minorities, and to the entire country: bankruptcy. Or the path of agreement."