MOSCOW, December 25 (RIA Novosti) - A Moscow court has raised embattled oil company Yukos [RTS: YUKO] debt to Russia's taxation service by $1.45 billion, to $15.5 billion, a RIA Novosti correspondent reported from the court Monday.
Most part of the additionally charged sum is tax arrears for 2005, some $1.21 billion.
Thus, the Moscow Arbitration Court granted the Federal Taxation Service's petition.
Yukos was declared bankrupt August 1, 2006. Now the oil company has about 60 creditors, and its total debt exceeds 682 billion rubles ($25.94 billion). Yukos' main creditors are the Federal Tax Service, Rosneft [RTS: ROSN], Tomskneft [RTS: TOMG] and Samaraneftegaz.
Yukos founder Mikhail Khodorkovsky is currently serving an eight-year prison term in Siberia after a court found him guilty of fraud and tax evasion in May 2005.
