Friday, December 17, 2004

FBI Incorporated

On December 16, the US bankruptcy court in Houston granted a temporary injunction blocking the planned 19 December auction of Yuganskneftegaz, the main production unit of the embattled Russian oil company YUKOS. YUKOS has 10 business days to seek a permanent injunction.
The injunction applies to Gazprom, Russia's gas monopoly and front-running bidder for Yuganskneftegaz, and a consortium of international banks, including Deutsche Bank.
The company took action through American courts as US bankruptcy law gives worldwide jurisdiction and have allowed the disgraced owners a chance to hide their money and assets in the US.
Chapter 11 filing is designed to temporarily shield a financially troubled company from creditors to give it time to reorganize in hopes of resuming operations on a stable basis but it doesn’t work that way. It may help YUKOS with the bulk of their assets in Russia.
The problem is that the money is turned over to the bankruptcy court to be administered by a ‘Trustee’.
The Trustee program of the Department of Justice is shot through with incompetence and corruption.
Record keeping by the Trustee program and the Bankruptcy Courts in general are a laughingstock.
The Department of Justice has taken ownership of the Russian company in order to siphon money and resources out of Russia for the benefit of oilmen and politicians.
In my opinion, the Department of Justice should not involve itself in an international scandal for short term gain considering the fact it has been consistently failing in its domestic duties.

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