Russian taxman swoops on TNK-BP books

Russian tax officials yesterday made fresh demands, requesting unprecedented levels of information on a group of foreigners seconded to TNK-BP only hours after Gordon Brown raised official harassment of the company with Russian president Dmitry Medvedev at the G8 meeting in Japan.

The officials wanted time sheets, certification of business trips and passport copies showing foreign travel covering a two-year period, from January 2006 to December 2007, the Guardian reports.

The information must be submitted within 10 days or penalties will apply, according to a source, confirmed by a BP spokesperson in London who said a tough review of the business was under way. ‘These kinds of audits go on all the time but the latest one seems to involve an unusually rigorous claim for documentation,’ he said.

TNK-BP, Russia's second-biggest foreign investment, has been involved in from a year-long tussle between BP and its Russian oligarch partners over management control and future strategy.

Further reading:

TNK-BP chief hangs on to power

BP accused of dealing secretly with Kremlin

Read the story in the Guardian

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