“Information on finance reporting was not submitted to the tax agencies, was not exposed to an auditor or was presented in a knowingly disported form”. The website Prigovor.ru reminds its readers of what happened on April 2, 2007.
On this day, on April 2, 2007, the investigation group that worked within the framework of the second criminal case against Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev of embezzlement of oil and money laundering, carried out a simplistic, at first sight, investigative action – an inspection of finance records and documentation, uploaded on the official website of the Oil Company Yukos at the address www.yukos.ru. As the result of the studying of the virtual reporting of “the most transparent oil company”, as befits, a corresponding protocol was drawn up which was included into the materials of the case.
“INFORMATION ON AFFILIATED PERSONS IS LASKING”
According to the protocol (from 02.04.2007) of the inspection of the documents posted in Internet on the official website of the Oil Company Yukos, the official page of the JSC of the Oil Company Yukos, was published a consolidated finance reporting of the JSC Oil Company Yukos for the period 1999-2002. This reporting, as the inspection showed, was only in the English language version. Besides, on this website were published annual and quarterly reports of the JSC Oil Company Yukos, but the earliest of the published on this site reports, was only the annual report of the oil company for the year 2004, and the quarterly report of the JSC Oil company Yukos for the IV quarter of the year 2003.
Yet, on this website have been published short notes under the title “Results of the activities of the Oil company Yukos for 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, containing only information about volumes of oil production (in general quantitative and percentage form). Apart from that, the website contained annual and quarterly reports of the main subsidiaries, namely of the JSC “Yuganskneftegaz”, JSC “Samaraneftegaz”, and the JSC “Tomskneft” VNK, with the earliest of them belonging to the III quarter of 2003. The inspection of the website showed that in the studied documents, as well as in other sections of the website regarding to any results of the activities of the JSC OIL company Yukos and its affiliated, controlled and dependent companies, lacked any other reports of such companies, including in a foreign language, and on affiliated persons”.
MURKY REPORTING OF THE TRANSPARENT COMPANY
In the course of the court proceedings, the fact of publishing the murky reporting of the “most transparent” company only in English language, caused in some media outlets an onslaught of false hilarity, sort of, “Khodorkovsky is accused of the English language in reporting”. The swindlers Khodorkovsky and Lebedev chuckled in the “aquarium”, and lawyers pretended they didn’t understand what the complaints were about.
And the complaints were simple, as the website itself, to be more precise, its content, witnessed against the leaders of the oil empire, as at issue was not so much the reporting in English, but manipulations with it. The website graphically refuted Khodorkovsky’s lies about transparency of the company and accessibility to the information on it for all interested people.
“INFORMATION WAS PRESENTED IN KNOWINGLY DISPORTED FORM”
“The Court, during the proceedings, studied proofs indicating that the leadership of the JSC Oil Company Yukos, from 1996 on, had not published information about financial accounting in the mass media and had not been presented to state controlling agencies, first of all, to tax agencies, had not been exposed to the company “PricewaterhouseCoopers”, the auditor of the JSC Oil Company Yukos. Thus the information had been concealed or had been presented in knowingly distorted form”, was pointed out in the verdict of the Moscow Khamovnichesky Court from December 27, 2010.
One of the proofs corroborating such conclusions of the Court, among other documents, was the official website of the Oil Company Yukos, where the consolidated reports of shareholders the JSC Oil Company Yukos had been published only in English language, “despite that fact that numerous shareholders of the oil company were Russian speakers”. Moreover, the Court pointed out that “Lebedev P.L., and Khodorkovsky M.B. had been given approval of a company’s draft reporting in a Russian version”, but then had been hiding it.
YUKOS TRANSPARENCY TURNED OUT TO BE A MYTH
Apart from that, it was stressed in the verdict that incomplete and disported information about the company, its operations, as well about firms and persons connected with the Oil Company Yukos, and other important information, was banally concealed not only from ordinary shareholders, but also from seasoned specialists and investors. The same applied to the understanding of the “transparent” reporting – both auditors and Yukos employees had difficulties in trying to make sense of it.
(See also the article “On this day, Khodorkovsky acquired friends in the USA for money”. "The baron-robber in a white hat". $1 million for "the efforts of the USA focused on Russia". $500 thousand on "analysts").
“And to all complaints of shareholders about incompleteness of the reporting, which was, in itself, a breach of the law on joint stock companies, it was told to shareholders that “the reporting of the company has been prepared in full volume and has been presented to tax agencies, and as the information with affiliated persons, it has been presented in the consolidated finance reporting, posted on the website of the JSC Oil company Yukos in Internet”. But, as the virtual withdrawal found out on the website of the “most transparent” oil company, this was a standard cheating of shareholders from the part of the borehole swindlers”, noted the website Prigovor.ru.
By the way, the website www.yukos.ru was “killed” in the end, and the reason of its “killing” was the fact that it had eloquently witnessed against Khodorkovsky and Nevzlin. Now the website is put on sale.
(See the previous article “On this day, an accusation formula was issued for Platon Lebedev”. Swiss traces of “borehole” fertilizers. “Platon Lebedev pas part of the organized group created by Yukos head Mikhail Khodorkovsky…” The website Prigovor.ru reminds its readers of what happened on April 1, 2004).
