"I hope this will not happen. Telenor is a good investor", Mr. Reiman believes.
The biggest Vympelcom shareholders are Alfa-group, owing 32.9 percent of its authorized capital, and Norwegian Telenor (26.6 percent).
Vympelcom is the second largest cellular operator in Russia. 39.4 percent of its shares are in circulation at the New York Stock Exchange.
In early December 2004, the tax bodies sent to Vympelcom a report with preliminary conclusions of checks of the company's 2001 tax declaration. It said that the company's tax debt totaled 4.4 billion rubles. Vympelcom objected to the tax organs and in late December the amount of tax claims was reduced to 17.6 million dollars (approximately 530 million rubles).
The tax bodies demanded from Vympelcom 20.9 million dollars (approximately 580.6 million rubles) for 2002.
In mid-February 2005 the company said that the 2002 tax claims have been reduced to 474 million rubles.
