RT:
Hague court had no authority in Yukos case, ruling politicized – Moscow
For those of you who aren’t yet aware, the
Hague is pretty much controlled by the cabal . . . ~J
Published
time: July 28, 2014 18:38
The
Hague’s arbitration court was not legally empowered to view the case of Yukos Oil
Company v. Russia, and the court’s “one-sided” ruling disregards previous
Strasbourg court decisions on the issue, the Russian Finance Ministry said in a
statement.
Viewing
the case, filed by shareholders of former Russian oil giant Yukos against the
Russian government, was not in the jurisdiction of the Permanent Court of
Arbitration (PCA) in the Hague, as Russia has not ratified the Energy Charter
Treaty, the ministry said on Monday.
The statement, following the court’s sensational Monday
ruling that ordered Russia to pay $50 billion in damages, also provided a detailed list of issues,
which, according to the ministry, make the decision“opportunistic” and “politically biased.”
First of
all, The Hague court ignored the previous decisions of the Strasbourg-based
European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), which in September 2011 ruled that the
Russian authorities had carried out “legitimate” and not politically motivated actions
against Yukos “to
counter the company’s tax evasion,” the ministry noted. The ruling contradicted
Yukos shareholders’ claims that the company’s assets were purposefully
expropriated by Moscow.
The
Russian Finance Ministry meanwhile blasted the arbitration ruling as based on “one-sided investigation with one-sided
application of evidence.”
The
Hague court in effect reviewed the decisions of Russian courts on Yukos “as if the arbitration court was an
additional authority for appealing the court orders,” the ministry said. It has made “theoretical speculations not supported by
evidence” over
the motivation of the Russian authorities’ actions in the case of Yukos, it
added.
The
international body failed to note that the people who controlled Yukos,
including the oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky released from jail in December,
were apparently aware of financial machinations aimed at a mass-scale tax
evasion in favor of the company, the ministry stressed. The tax evasion scheme,
which involved the creation of numerous bogus companies, was not properly
considered in the court.
The
arbitration court went as far as to judge “what Russian tax legislation should be like” as opposed to what it required in reality,
the ministry said. The court refused to pass several controversial issues on
taxes for review by Russian, UK or Cyprus competent authorities despite relying
on the Energy Charter Treaty that outlines a need for such reviews, it added.
While in
effect saying The Hague court decision was not legally binging for Moscow, the
ministry added that “the
Russian Federation will challenge the arbitration court’s decisions in the
courts of the Netherlands.”
According
to the ministry, “the
arbitration court failed to approach the adjudication with common sense, which
is required from the judges in such situations,” which resulted in an unobjective and biased
decision.
“Such an
approach undermines the authority of the Arbitration court and the Energy
Charter Treaty, which are being applied in increasingly politicized manner and,
as in this case, have become the objects of abuse on behalf of domestic
investors trying to evade taxes,” the ministry said.
ECHR is
expected to announce a fresh decision on Yukos’ multi-billion dollar claim
against Russia on Thursday, as the defunct company’s shareholders have filed a
separate application with the Strasbourg court, Reuters reported.
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