MOSCOW, July 16 - RAPSI. The Federal Tax Service does not have financial claims against former YUKOS partner Alexey Spirichev, who has been accused of evading taxes while heading firms controlled by the former oil giant, the service told the Russian Legal Information Agency on Monday.
According to the watchdog's representative, it has been declared an aggrieved party to the case, which is presently under review in Moscow's Zamoskvoretsky District Court.
The representative said at the hearing on Monday that YUKOS' liabilities were repaid in full during its bankruptcy proceedings. He added that he supports the prosecution's position that Spirichev was involved in tax evasion.
Investigators maintain that Spirichev and his accomplices falsified documents under the guidance of YUKOS chiefs Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev for sham companies in 1998-2001.
Using the documents, the companies received tax benefits from the local government. As a result, Muskron evaded taxes worth 5.4 billion rubles ($165 million) and Business-Oil underpaid 3.7 billion rubles ($113 million) in taxes.
The Prosecutor General's Office also reported that Spirichev issued documents in 2000 stating that Business-Oil allegedly paid excess taxes, although he knew this to be untrue. Misled by the documents, the Federal Treasury refunded Business-Oil 44 million rubles ($1.3 million) on December 27, 2000. The funds were reportedly transferred to an account controlled by Lebedev, Khodorkovsky and other YUKOS group members.
Spirichev escaped justice and was placed on the international wanted list in 2004.
The court issued an arrest warrant for him in absentia.
Spirichev was mentioned when Khodorkovsky's first case was handled by the Meschansky District Court.
Khodorkovsky and Lebedev were sentenced to eight years in prison for fraud and tax evasion in 2005. In late 2010, a Moscow district court sentenced them to 14 years in jail for oil theft and money laundering. They were expected to be released in 2017, considering the term they had already served for their convictions from the first trial.
However, the Moscow City Court cut their sentences by one year on May 24, 2011.
