MOSCOW, July 29. /ITAR-TASS/. The Hague arbitration court verdict in the oil company Yukos shareholder lawsuit against Russia is flatly political and does not stand professional legal criticism, Russian experts polled by ITAR-TASS said. The court ordered Russia to pay $50 billion compensation to shareholders, though they had claimed $114 billion.
“Hague arbitration court has made a ruling on the basis of a European Energy Charter constituting a scope of political statements, purely declarative and moreover not ratified by Russia,” Director of the Institute of Globalization Problems Mikhail Delyagin told ITAR-TASS.
“Meanwhile, the EU Energy Charter Treaty does not empower business people not to pay taxes to state authorities, as was the case in the Yukos affair. The Hague court took into account the Yukos tax evasion case in Russia, thus finding accusations brought against the company by Russian legal instances lawful. So, the court indirectly agreed with the fact that Yukos had taken action that resulted in its bankruptcy,” the expert said.
“Russian courts have issued concrete charges against Yukos and plaintiffs in the court have just described an atmosphere 'in Putin-era Russia'. With this in view, the court had passed its verdict. This verdict is purely political because judges are not professionals in tax legislation,” Delyagin added.