Russia's new energy monolith.Shortly before Christmas, the Russian government held a tax auction to sell off shares in the mammoth Yukos oil giant. Moscow claimed that the corporation owed $28 billion in unpaid taxes. The company's former owner, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, has been jailed and faces trial on fraud and tax evasion The process whereby a person, through commission of Fraud, unlawfully pays less tax than the law mandates. Tax evasion is a criminal offense under federal and state statutes. A person who is convicted is subject to a prison sentence, a fine, or both. charges. Some observers contend that the jailing of Khodorkovsky--often referred to as the "Russian Bill Gates"--and the break-up of his company is official retaliation against the politically ambitious young tycoon. In any case, the winner of the tax auction was a shadowy company called Baikal Finans Group. BFG BfG Bundesanstalt für Gewaesserkunde (Germany: Federal Institute of Hydrology) BFG Big Friendly Giant (Roald Dahl book) BFG Battlefleet Gothic (game) BFG Briefing bought up Yukos'Yuganskneftegaz subsidiary, which pumps nearly one million barrels of oil a day. BFG's winning bid--$9.3 billion, roughly half the oil facility's estimated value--was entered just before bidding closed. A few days later, BFG was bought outright by Rosneft, an oil company owned by the Russian government. Putin, an "ex"-KGB officer, insists that his government's nationalization nationalization, acquisition and operation by a country of business enterprises formerly owned and operated by private individuals or corporations. State or local authorities have traditionally taken private property for such public purposes as the construction of of Yukos was done "legally." Russian-born computer entrepreneur Alexander Konanykhine, a former distant business associate of Khodorkovsky, finds Putin's defense ironic. "The Russian government accused Yukos' founder, Khodorkovsky, of unfair privatization privatization: see nationalization. privatization Transfer of government services or assets to the private sector. State-owned assets may be sold to private owners, or statutory restrictions on competition between privately and publicly owned deals," Konanykhine commented to THE NEW AMERICAN. "It is ironic that these allegations now pale in comparison with the scams the Russian Government itself employed to nationalize na·tion·al·ize tr.v. na·tion·al·ized, na·tion·al·iz·ing, na·tion·al·iz·es 1. To convert from private to governmental ownership and control: nationalize the steel industry. 2. Yukos." Konanykhine and his wife fled Russia in 1992 after the KGB KGB: see secret police. KGB Russian Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti (“Committee for State Security”) Soviet agency responsible for intelligence, counterintelligence, and internal security. seized control of his banking business. Working with the FBI, the KGB sought to frame Konanykhine for various crimes and extradite ex·tra·dite v. ex·tra·dit·ed, ex·tra·dit·ing, ex·tra·dites v.tr. 1. To give up or deliver (a fugitive, for example) to the legal jurisdiction of another government or authority. 2. him to Russia, where he would most likely have been killed. (See "The Konanykhine Case" in our March 8, 2004 issue.) One outcome of the Putin regime's seizure of Yukos, Konanykhine notes, "is the resulting capital flight and exodus of successful entrepreneurs from Russia." "The first time KGB controlled Russia, millions died," recalls the Russian expatriate. "The whole class of entrepreneurs was exterminated. Many businessmen do not want to risk the same fate now that the KGB successor agencies took firm hold over Russia again. Having seen all my companies hi-jacked from me by the KGB at gunpoint, I understand their concern." |
|
||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion