Dec-19-2004

As a result of the retroactive tax assessments against Yukos, Yukos’s prime asset, the production company Yuganskneftegaz, is sold off at a state-run auction.

The buyer is a front company that pays $9.7 billion, a fraction of the company’s assessed worth.

Later, it is revealed that Igor Sechin, Deputy Head of thePresidential Administration and a close associate of Mr. Putin is behind the buying group.