Asked whether the government was contemplating the expropriation of Yukos shares to compensate for lost tax revenues, Kudrin said that Yukos' property may be expropriated if it turned out that there was not enough money on its bank accounts to settle the tax debt. The sides should first produce documentation to validate their positions out of court, he explained.
Last week, a tax agency filed a suit against Yukos with Moscow's Arbitration Court, putting the company's outstanding tax debt at 100 billion rubles ($1 equals about 28.5 rubles).
Yukos will have to pay the money if the court proves that the company has violated the law by running a tax evasion scheme, Kudrin said. There have been instances of Russian companies using offshore zones to avoid paying taxes. The petroleum group Lukoil, for one, used the Baikonur space center, in Kazakhstan, as a tax write-off, but eventually admitted to the wrongdoing and paid all the taxes due, he told the reporters.
Speaking of the government's pension reform plans, the minister assured that the reform would not trigger social disturbances. Most of the changes contemplated by the government are aimed at improving the pensioners' living standards, he said. Amongst other things, the government proposes to abolish some of the privileges enjoyed by the retirees in the health sector while at the same time raising their pensions, Kudrin announced. A survey conducted by the Health Ministry suggests that most of the pensioners welcome the prospect, he reported.
The Health Ministry is finalizing pension reform blueprints to submit them to the Cabinet of Ministers by April 22. The Cabinet plans to discuss the package at its April 29 session, Kudrin said.
