Former Yukos CFO Lambasts Exxon-Rosneft Deal
Bruce Misamore, former Yukos CFO, has published an article in The Moscow Times criticizing “misguided analysts” who suggest that ExxonMobil’s investment in the Russian state-owned oil company Rosneft has legitimized that company’s previous takeover of all of Yukos’ assets.
Misamore claims that Russian state-owned media has been promoting the argument that the Yukos takeover is story of the past, and recalls that the separate but similarly highly publicized BP-Rosneft stock swap failed only five months after its initiation in 2011. He says:
“There is no question that the Kremlin’s illegal actions led to the theft of Yukos. Despite all of the attempts to grossly misrepresent the facts and spin the Yukos takeover as a legitimate tax and bankruptcy issue, Russia lost on all the primary procedural issues related to the destruction and theft of Yukos in the ruling that the European Court of Human Rights rendered last September. As a result, substantial compensation is now due for those violations. Russia has yet to acknowledge its responsibility for the actions of its corrupt judiciary and administration.”
Misamore adds that Exxon’s transaction with Rosneft, instead of legitimizing the crimes committed by the Russian government and Rosneft, is actually only a major international energy company prioritizing its need to access oil over the inherent risk of dealing in Russia. He says that Putin’s ability to cover his track only results from his control of Russia’s oil resources. He says:
“The truth has not changed after the Exxon-Rosneft deal. More than 55,000 shareholders in Yukos, including about 50,000 in Russia, saw their investments stolen by the Russian government. There is no doubt that those shareholders would not agree with the Kremlin’s toadies that any form of “legitimization” whatsoever has occurred.”
