Forbes.com: Judge in Yukos Countersuit Steps Down

The judge who was to hear the Yukos oil company's countersuit on a gigantic back taxes bill was removed from the case Monday after citing unspecified psychological pressure, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported.

The request by Arbitration Court Judge Olga Mikhailova was connected to "publications in the mass media that she considered as psychological pressure," the news agency reported.

A new judge will be appointed by Tuesday evening, the report cited Yukos lawyer Sergei Pepeliayev as saying.

The date for new hearings would be decided within a month, according to Mikhail Dolomanov, a lawyer who also represents the interests of the beleaguered oil giant, the agency said.

Mikhailova's decision adds complications to the already complex legal web of legal actions involving Yukos and its jailed former CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

Yukos has been ordered to pay some $3.4 billion in back taxes for the year 2000, an amount that the company says could drive it into bankruptcy. Another $3.3 billion is being sought for 2001 and bills for other years are expected to follow.

Khodorkovsky and a close associate, Platon Lebedev, meanwhile are on trial on charges including fraud and tax evasion. That trial is to resume on Tuesday.

Another court on Monday postponed a hearing on a motion by Khodorkovsky's and Lebedev's attorneys to release from them from custody, the Interfax news agency reported.

The Arbitration Court ruled last month that Yukos must pay its 2000 bill and the deadline for that payment expired in early July.

However, prior to that ruling, Yukos in a separate action challenged the legality of the Tax Ministry's claim. The judge in that case was removed on a challenge from the Tax Ministry, meaning the case had to be reheard; that rehearing was to begin Monday before Mikhailova.

Yukos, meanwhile, is struggling to find a compromise that would allow it to restructure its tax debts and keep the government from seizing its key assets.

There has been no government reaction to the company's proposal to pay $8 billion over two years or to an offer from Khodorkovsky - who stepped down as Yukos chief executive after his arrest - to help settle the tax claim by turning over shares held by him and his close associates.


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