YUKOS TO FILE AGAINST ANY TAX CLAIMS TO ITS SUBSIDIARIES

MOSCOW, March 1 (RIA Novosti) - "In view of additional tax claims to Tomskneft, JSC, the Yukos oil major deems it necessary to reaffirm that it intends to file against any tax claims to its subsidiaries, affiliated and other relevant companies," the company's statement reads.

According to the statement, the company is seriously concerned over statements about alleged investigation into the allegedly misuse of money in relation to two trading companies, Fargoil and Ratibor, linked to Yukos, included into its consolidation according to the US GAAP standards.

"Yukos firmly states that such claims are absolutely unsubstantiated," the statement runs.

The company believes that the reason for such claims is the lack of understanding or unwillingness to understand generally accepted principles of consolidated accounting the company has been applying since 1999."

According to these principles, the statement stresses, Yukos' financial accountability on the basis of US GAAP has been confirmed by an independent auditor - PriceWaterhouseCoopers, and the results of the audit were available for the company's shareholders in and outside Russia.