Yukos bankruptcy 'not US matter'

Russian authorities do not have to abide by any US court decisions taken with regard to troubled oil giant Yukos, a Houston court has been told.

Legal expert William Butler said there was no treaty between the US and Russia to recognise the other's legal rulings. That meant Moscow would not have to adhere to US rulings in the Yukos case. Yukos says a US court was entitled to declare it bankrupt before its Yugansk unit was sold, since it has a US subsidiary and local bank accounts.

Yukos made its surprise Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in Houston in December in an unsuccessful attempt to halt the auction of Yugansk, its main oil producing unit, by Russian authorities. Yugansk was sold to help pay off a $27.5bn (£14.5bn) back tax bill. It was bought for $9.4bn by a previously unknown group, which was in turn bought by state-controlled oil company Rosneft. The US court's jurisdiction has been challenged by Deutsche Bank and Gazpromneft, a former unit of Russian gas monopoly Gazprom which is due to merge with Rosneft. Deutsche Bank maintains the case has no place in a US court because Yukos has no assets in the US, apart from two bank accounts and a house in Houston owned by its chief finance officer Bruce Misamore. Deutsche Bank is involved in the case because it is itself being sued by Yukos. It had agreed to loan Gazpromneft the money to bid for Yugansk. US bankruptcy judge Letitia Clark, who issued an injunction in December to try and prevent the Yugansk sale, has said she will rule "pretty promptly, however I do not anticipate ruling on it before next Tuesday".

Yukos has claimed it sought help in the US because other forums - Russian courts and the European Court of Human Rights - were either unfriendly or offered less protection. It has claimed that Russia imposed the huge tax bill and forced the sale of Yugansk as part of a campaign to destroy Yukos and its former owner Mihkail Khodorkovsky, who is facing a 10-year prison term in Russia for fraud and tax evasion. Yukos' parent company, the Gibraltar-based Menatep Group, is suing Russia in Europe for $28.3bn in financial damages. The company is also seeking $20bn in a separate US lawsuit against Rosneft and Gazprom for their role in the sale of Yugansk.