PwC Yukos row sparks international trade threats
US secretary of state warns Russia on its hounding of world's largest accounting firm
Russia’s attack on PricewaterhouseCoopers is escalating into an international
row, after apparent interventions by the US in the Yukos affair.
A Moscow court published the full text of a ruling on the affair yesterday,
claiming the world’s largest accounting firm had effectively colluded with Yukos
to commit tax fraud. The moves have led to analysts suggesting PwC could lose
its
auditing licence in Russia.
The firm is being hounded in
Russia after becoming
embroiled in the rows that led to the imprisonment of Mikhail Khodorkovsky,
Yukos’s former proprietor.
Condoleeza Rice is understood to have warned her counterpart in Russia that
the mvoes on the firm could damage investor confidence and cause caomplications
in Russia’s attempts to join the WTO,
the
Telegraph reported.
Further reading:
Russian business paper
Kommersant
on the story
PwC to stay put in Russia
despite Yukos problems