Netherlands' Supreme Court refuses to halt Yukos case decision

MOSCOW, Dec 4 (PRIME) -- The Supreme Court of the Netherlands has turned down Russia's request to suspend a decision of the arbitration court of the Hague in a U.S. $57 billion suit filed by former majority shareholders of defunct oil company Yukos, according to a court statement seen by PRIME on Friday.

In 2003, the Russian government accused the management of the then top oil company Yukos of economic crimes. Several company managers were sentenced to prison for fraud and tax evasion. Its core owner, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, was charged with several sequential sentences and spent 10 years in jail before he was pardoned by President Vladimir Putin. The company declared bankruptcy, and its assets were sold to state-owned oil major Rosneft.

In 2014, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague ruled that the Russian government must pay a $50 billion compensation to GML, which unites former Yukos owners. Russia refused, and the shareholders sent claims to several countries, asking them to help with fulfillment of the court order. Russian asset seizures began in France and Belgium, and the Russian government contested them.

The District Court of the Hague cancelled the lower court compensation decision in 2016 on the grounds that the case is beyond jurisdiction of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague, but the Hague Court of Appeal overturned the decision in February 2020.

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