MOSCOW, March 28 (RIA Novosti) - The creditor banks of embattled oil giant Yukos have asked to replace a claimant in the company's bankruptcy case, a RIA Novosti correspondent reported from the courtroom Tuesday.
The banks said Russian state-owned oil company Rosneft should act as a claimant in the bankruptcy case after the rights of claim to Yukos payables have been re-assigned to it.
A Rosneft lawyer supported the banks' petition, saying his company had received, along with the rights of claim, the rights of holding proceedings in the Yukos bankruptcy case.
However, Yukos lawyers disagreed with the banks' move, saying the claims to payables had been re-assigned under English law.
"The law of England and Wells does not permit the sale of a creditor's claim (debt re-assignment) in the event of a debtor's bankruptcy," a Yukos lawyer said.
Yukos says the legality of the re-assignment deal should first be analyzed in compliance with English law. Therefore, Yukos has requested that the court adjourn the bankruptcy hearing for "at least 14 days."
In June 2005, London's High Court of Justice granted the request of 14 creditors that Yukos repay the remaining $482 million of a $1-billion syndicated loan that it secured in the summer of 2003 from a consortium of Western banks, including Societe Generale, Citibank, Commerzbank, Credit Lyonnais, Deutsche Bank, HSBC and ING.
The oil company failed to comply with the repayment agreement due to financial difficulties, back-tax claims, and the trial of former CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky, after which the creditor banks took the case to court.
On September 28, the Moscow Arbitration Court upheld the London court's decision, but reduced the claim sum by $6.72 million. On February 22, 2006, after reviewing the case twice, the Federal Arbitration Court in Moscow upheld a decision by a lower court requiring Yukos to pay the $482-million debt.
On March 15, the creditor banks said they had reassigned the Yukos debt to Rosneft.
The Moscow Arbitration Court has also refused a request by Yukos lawyers to transfer the bankruptcy case to the arbitration court in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area.
Under its charter, Yukos was registered in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area in Western Siberia.
