YUKOS CEO quits before “sham” meeting

MOSCOW (Reuters) – The American chief executive of fallen Russian oil major YUKOS (YUKO.MM) has tendered his resignation before a meeting of creditors on Thursday that is expected to take the company a step closer to bankruptcy.

Steven Theede said he would boycott the creditors’ meeting, denouncing it as a “sham” which would lead to the breakup of YUKOS, which has been crippled by $33 billion in back-tax claims.

In a resignation letter, Theede wrote that court-appointed administrator Eduard Rebgun had concluded that “financial restructuring is impossible and liquidation is the only viable alternative.”

Theede also said in the letter, dated July 19, that Rebgun had ignored a management restructuring plan and concluded that YUKOS, once Russia’s largest oil company, was worth $15 billion, while it had debts of $17 billion.

Reuters