PricewaterhouseCoopers, auditor of Yukos, has withdrawn ten year’s worth of audit opinions at the collapsed Russian oil group, after it became aware of new information which it said had not been known at the time of the audits. 

The firm withdrew ten years of audit reports for the period 1994 to 2004 saying representations which was provided to it by Yukos’ former management 'may not have been accurate.”

Mikhail Khodorkovsky, once the largest shareholder of Yukos is serving an eight-year prison sentence after being convicted of fraud and tax evasion.

Yukos was Russia’s largest oil producer, but was broken up and sold off to state-controlled energy groups after being served with a claim for about £13.5bn in back taxes three years ago.

Further reading:

PwC retains Russian auditing license

PwC denies loss of Russian client is due to Yukos battle

PwC to stay put in Russia despite Yukos problems