Russia's beleaguered oil giant Yukos broke ties Monday with the last of six core shareholders who once controlled the company but are now all facing jail or exile in what many see as a politically-driven campaign.
Yukos said in a statement posted on its Web site that it had dismissed Mikhail Brudno as president of Yukos RM, the company's refining and marketing arm.
Brudno, who owns more than 3 percent of Yukos, was charged last month with embezzlement, joining the other five core company shareholders being pursued by the legal authorities either in Russia or abroad in exile.
"Being guided by a Yukos board of directors recommendation that no shareholders should interfere in the company's operational management, the Yukos management board adopted a decision today to relieve Mikhail Brudno of his duties as president of Yukos RM and as a member of the management board," the statement said.
Yukos, Russia's largest oil producer, has been in prosecutors' firing line since June and its main shareholder and Russia's richest man, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, was jailed in late October on fraud and tax evasion charges.
Deputy chairman of the board Yury Beilin said in an interview published Monday that "in order to preserve the company" Yukos would restrict "the participation of Yukos employees or resources in any political or other activities of shareholders."
Khodorkovsky resigned as chief executive in November. The second-biggest shareholder, Leonid Nevzlin, who is in Israel, has been financing the election campaign of a liberal opposition candidate in March presidential elections.
Beilin also told the Vedomosti business daily that the company was likely to reduce its dividend payments. Yukos approved a record US$2 billion dividend payout in October last year.
"The management has suggested to the board of directors that we reassess our dividend policy this year to take into account the additional risks which require establishing a financial reserve," he added.
Another company manager told the daily on condition of anonymity that Yukos would now stop using aggressive tax minimization schemes.
Yukos has been hit with a US$3.4 billion tax bill by the fiscal authorities who claim the company misused tax loopholes to evade taxes.
The attack on Yukos is widely seen as politically motivated after Khodorkovsky angered President Vladimir Putin by financing opposition parties before December parliamentary elections, in which pro-Kremlin forces eventually triumphed.
"The board of directors has to do everything it can to remedy the situation," commented Valery Nesterov, an analyst from Troika Dialog brokerage.
"That's why they are trying to build up protection and keep the company intact, by putting distance between them and shareholders," he added.
The combined effect of the monsoon, the outer rim of Typhoon Fengshen and a low-pressure system is expected to bring significant rainfall this week to various parts of the nation, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The heaviest rain is expected to occur today and tomorrow, with torrential rain expected in Keelung’s north coast, Yilan and the mountainous regions of Taipei and New Taipei City, the CWA said. Rivers could rise rapidly, and residents should stay away from riverbanks and avoid going to the mountains or engaging in water activities, it said. Scattered showers are expected today in central and
COOPERATION: Taiwan is aligning closely with US strategic objectives on various matters, including China’s rare earths restrictions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Taiwan could deal with China’s tightened export controls on rare earth metals by turning to “urban mining,” a researcher said yesterday. Rare earth metals, which are used in semiconductors and other electronic components, could be recovered from industrial or electronic waste to reduce reliance on imports, National Cheng Kung University Department of Resources Engineering professor Lee Cheng-han (李政翰) said. Despite their name, rare earth elements are not actually rare — their abundance in the Earth’s crust is relatively high, but they are dispersed, making extraction and refining energy-intensive and environmentally damaging, he said, adding that many countries have opted to
SUPPLY CHAIN: Taiwan’s advantages in the drone industry include rapid production capacity that is independent of Chinese-made parts, the economic ministry said The Executive Yuan yesterday approved plans to invest NT$44.2 billion (US$1.44 billion) into domestic production of uncrewed aerial vehicles over the next six years, bringing Taiwan’s output value to more than NT$40 billion by 2030 and making the nation Asia’s democratic hub for the drone supply chain. The proposed budget has NT$33.8 billion in new allocations and NT$10.43 billion in existing funds, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said. Under the new development program, the public sector would purchase nearly 100,000 drones, of which 50,898 would be for civil and government use, while 48,750 would be for national defense, it said. The Ministry of
African swine fever was confirmed at a pig farm in Taichung, the Ministry of Agriculture said today, prompting a five-day nationwide ban on transporting and slaughtering pigs, and marking the loss of Taiwan’s status as the only Asian nation free of all three major swine diseases. The ministry held a news conference today confirming that the virus was detected at a farm in Wuci District (梧棲) yesterday evening. Authorities preemptively culled 195 pigs at the farm at about 3am and disinfected the entire site to prevent the disease from spreading, the ministry said. Authorities also set up a 3km-radius control zone
RSS