Bailiffs: Yukos Should Not Linger

Russian bailiffs gave beleaguered oil giant Yukos a month to pay off its $3.4 billion tax debt.
Andrei Belyakov, the chief of bailiffs, said Yukos had paid 20 per cent of its back taxes for 2000, and that company executives had assured him that they wanted to accelerate payments. The rest of the debt must be repaid within a month, Belyakov said.
"We made it quite clear that foot-dragging under any pretext is pointless. We will take harsh steps under the authority the law gives us."
A company source said, however, that Yukos would only be able to pay $1.8bn in back taxes - little more than half the total - by the end-August deadline.