“I think, the main participation of big companies in social life consists in paying taxes”. Yukos lost a lawsuit in London. The website Prigivor.ru reminds its readers of what happened on September 1, 2003, and 2017.
On this day, on September 1, 2017, business publications reported that Russia had filed a case in the London High Court on recovery by enforcement of the legal costs from one of the entities affiliated with Yukos – from Financial Performance Holdings B.V. (FPH).
The gist of the story, in a nutshell, is as follows. FPH, beginning from 2014, had been trying through the International Arbitration to exact from Russia more than 1.3 billion US dollars in connection with the bankruptcy of Yukos, and in September 2016, it became known that “the agents” of oligarchs stopped the process and withdrew from the case.
The Arbitration Court of London charged the FPH to cover to the Russian side all the expanses that had emerged during the court proceedings. "This company has ignored the ruling of the London Arbitration Court and has left without reply repeated reminders of the Russian side pertaining to the necessity to execute the pronounced judgment. The aggregate total of the financial expenses amounted to 1.3 million British pounds including penalty interests for the non-compliment of the court decision (to the tune of 1.7 million US dollars).
Additionally, for the purpose to enforce recovery of this money, Russia asked the London Arbitration Court to disclose information on the assets of the FPH in the whole world. The point is that during the bankruptcy of Yukos, staged by a group of foreign banks, the former leaders of this oil company had hurriedly hidden everything they had been able to lay hands on. Evidently, part of this “hideout” became also the Financial Performance Holding B.V. (FPH), which refused to disclose its assets. Finally, at the end of September of the same 2017, the company FPN decided not to wait until the proceedings and covered all the litigations costs amounting to 1.7 million US dollars. To put it simply, in order not to show its business from within, the owners of the FPH decided, that it would be cheaper to settle the debt.
A lesson on lying and duplicity from Khodorkovsky
Of the eve of the Day of Knowledge in 2003, Mikhail Borisovich Khodorkovsky, still at liberty, visited the radio station “Ekho Moskvy” where he shamelessly discoursed upon the role of big corporations, lobbyism, and, sure enough, upon well paid by Yukos “civil society”. Perhaps, it would be useful to evaluate from the point of view of time the things expressed by Khodorkovsky at the “Ekho Moskvy” as time is a peculiar lie detector when after heaps of pronounced beautiful words interesting events occur exposing the reliability of words and declared positions.
Thus, the tax dodger Khodorkovsky on taxes:
“I think, the main participation of big companies in social life consists in paying taxes. Because the more effectively we work, the more can get the social sphere. In 1998, in such a difficult crisis year, we paid on the order of 10 billion rubles of taxes, and last year – 120 billion rubles. This year, perhaps, it will be even more”, said Khodorkovsky.
The tax machinations of the great “taxpayer” Khodorkovsky was exposed a couple of months later in the course of active measures of investigation – only for the period 1998 – 1999 the oil company Yukos and its subordinated entities underpaid to the budget of 150 billion rubles.
Moreover, in the same period "the richest oligarch" was actively evading taxes even as a physical person. Up to date, the Federal Service of Court Bailiffs cannot recover from the “extremely honest” Khodorkovsky more than 18 billion rubles.
Or, on “charity”
“I have been dealing with various charity programs for a long time and I know that each ruble redistributing through charity equals three budget rubles. We cannot fling our money on everything, we simply do not have either financial or human resources for that. We have chosen for us one direction – education. We invest money in internet education, in training of schoolteachers. We invest in such programs as “The New Civilization” – this is teaching children the basics of the modern society”, speculated Khodorkovsky. As if he knew, that “zombified” children and bribed teachers would come in handy pretty soon, at least for crowd scenes of protest rallies and for signing “with inflamed eyes” all sorts of petitions in support of criminals and waving the poster “Freedom to Mikhail Khodorkovsky”.
(See also How children were made to zombies in the incubator of Yukos. “Children that have come through the Yukos camps should be unilinear, programmed for univocal actions, they bear badges with the inscription “Freedom to Khodorkovsky!”. The website Prigovor.ru reminds its reader of what happened on August 20, 2004.
And, at last, Khodorkovsky on lobbying and lobbyism of some or other corporative interests in parliament:
“As to the defense of the economic interests of employees, shareholders and so on and so forth, as well as mutual tasks facing the society, we are lobbying our interests. This is being made publically, openly. I myself speak at parliament hearings, present our position, our approach to problems. After that or before that, it depends, speaks a finance minister, a minister of taxes and fees, and they present their approach to a problem. Deputies listen and then make decisions. I think the civil society will be built in our country when each man, each group will have a possibility to lay out their views publically, in detail, and legislative bodies will have to make decisions", spouted Mikhail Khodorkovsky with his candied tongue.
In fact, Yukos acted in the Russian Parliament so aggressively that once even Yegor Gaidar couldn’t bear it - a rather restrained person, a liberal and free marketeer.
“We all know what happened in the Duma in February 2003”, said Gaidar in an interview with Vladimir Solovyev, the presenter of the "NTV" TV channel in 2005. "Of course, Yukos carried out a very energetic and fraudulent activity in the Duma (Russian Parliament). He used corresponding technologies and, as a matter of fact, as early as in 2002, by the end of the year, it became clear that the government could not pass through the Duma no law without the approval of Yukos”.
“I asked him, why the tax on mineral fuel is on such a low level, and I was told that “Dubov wanted it so”, said Gaidar on another occasion. Vladimir Dubov was a shareholder of Yukos and, heading the Committee on taxes in the Duma, he was a leader and organizer of the Yukos lobby which was becoming more and more influential”, noted the website Prigovor.ru.
(See also the previous story: “On this day, Khodorkovsky made payments for terrorists. The money of Khodorkovsky for the member of “The Right Sector” and arsonist Oleg Sentsov. The website Prigovor.ru reminds its readers of what happened on August 31, 2015.
See also on this subject: “Paradise not lost for Khodorkovsky and Nevzlin”. Prigovor.ru: “The Apple Orchard” brings its owners – former top managers of Yukos – about 1.5 million US dollars, and that money is used to finance the organization recognized as extremist in Russia.
“Tax mechanics of Khodorkovsky as a physical person”. Mikhail Khodorkovsky 'as a physical person' in the years 1998 – 1999 evaded paying taxes and insurance contributions in the amount of 53 million rubles (1.7 million US dollars). The website Prigovor.ru reminds its readers of what happened on August 12, 2004.
“Yukos as fraudulent tax-dodger”. “To the heads of the Yukos affiliate a command was given - under any pretext not to issue documents, sometimes the offices were simply closed”. The website Prigovor.ru reminds its reader of what happened on August 16, 2004.
