"Now the materials of Yukos oil company checks for 2001 have been considered, and the decision taken to hold additional tax inspections," Anton Ustinov, the head of the Russian Taxes and Dues Ministry's legal department, said Tuesday at an Internet conference.
Speaking about the company's checks for previous years, Mr. Ustinov said tax bodies are restricted by the Russian Tax Code "both by the depth of tax check [no less that 3 years prior to the year preceding the year of check] and by the number of checks."
"Thus, the check of Yukos by the Russian Taxes and Dues Ministry for 2000 was held for the first time," Mr. Ustinov said. "As the tax evasion scheme used by Yukos was rather complicated, with the help of a group of legal entities registered on the territory of different constituent members of the Russian Federation, a separate tax inspection cannot always reveal the scheme in full for a short time."
Anton Ustinov also said that the Russian Taxes and Dues Ministry has proofs of connection with Yukos of firms registered in "internal offshores," to which most claims refer.
"Beyond any doubt, there are these and other proofs, which made it possible for the Russian Taxes and Dues Ministry to win the arbitration process," he emphasized.
Mr. Ustinov said that adoption of decision of an arbitration court is impossible without consideration of basic documents by means of which the party - the Russian Taxes and Dues Ministry - proves its demands now.
"Any allegations that the court has not considered basic documents when making a decision are voiced by people who either did not attend the process or follow the aim to deliberately distort information," Mr. Ustinov said.
Yukos has either not officially submitted documents on the use of the zero rate of the VAT on the company's export operationsfor 2000-2001 and on allocation to repay debts for 2000 of the still not reimbursed VAT sum for this year.
"The issue of the lawfulness of the Yukos oil company's demand to use the zero rate of the VAT and reimburse the sums of the value added tax will be commented on only after Yukos officially submits documents mentioned earlier," said the head of the legal department.
