國際法庭在尤科斯拆分案中判俄羅斯政府敗訴

An international court has awarded the shareholders of the now-defunct Yukos oil company more than $50 billion, ruling that the Russian government wrongly seized the company from one of the country’s most powerful oligarchs.

一家國際法庭裁定，現已不復存在的尤科斯石油公司(Yukos)的股東們應當得到超過500億美元（約合3100億元人民幣）的賠償。裁決認定俄羅斯政府從該國最強大的寡頭之一手中不正當地奪走了這家公司。

The award by a tribunal in The Hague — the largest ever in international arbitration — is the latest chapter in a dispute that began in 2003 when Russian authorities arrested Yukos’s chairman, Mikhail B. Khodorkovsky, and sold off his company over the next several years.

海牙的一家仲裁法庭裁定的這宗賠償，是國際仲裁史上金額最大的一宗。2003年，俄羅斯當局逮捕了尤科斯公司的總裁米哈伊爾·B·霍多爾科夫斯基(Mikhail B. Khodorkovsky)，並在隨後幾年裏將他的公司出售。這次的賠償裁定是始於2003年的這場糾紛中最新的發展。

Mr. Khodorkovsky gained control of Yukos through Russia’s privatization auctions in the 1990s, and the attack on the energy company was seen by some as the Kremlin’s effort to correct irregularities in that process. Others, including Yukos shareholders, saw the company’s troubles and Mr. Khodorkovsky’s imprisonment as an effort by Russia’s government to punish him for his political ambitions and take back the oil and gas industry.

霍多爾科夫斯基在上世紀90年代俄羅斯的私有化拍賣中，取得了尤科斯的控制權，而之後這家能源公司受到的攻擊，在一些人看來，是克里姆林宮試圖糾正私有化過程中出現的違規做法。但包括尤科斯股東在內的另一些人則認爲，這家公司遇到的麻煩，以及霍多爾科夫斯基的入獄，是俄羅斯政府在對他的政治抱負進行懲罰，也是政府在奪回油氣產業的控制權。

In siding with the shareholders, the ruling adds to the pressure on Russia, which faces increased scrutiny in the United States and Europe for the escalating crisis in Ukraine. The Yukos case plays into broader concerns that Russia, under the leadership of President Vladimir V. Putin, has looked to stifle opposition and put valuable assets under Kremlin insiders’ control.

這項裁決支持了股東的訴求，加劇了俄羅斯承受的壓力。當前，俄羅斯由於激化烏克蘭的危機，受到了美國和歐洲越來越嚴厲的審視。尤科斯公司的案件讓人聯想起更廣泛的一些擔憂，即在弗拉基米爾·V·普京(Vladimir V. Putin)的領導下，俄羅斯意圖鉗制反對派，並將其鉅額財產放在克里姆林宮圈內人的手中。

A three-person panel, in a roughly 600-page ruling, portrayed the seizure and breakup of Yukos as a politically driven campaign to neutralize Mr. Khodorkovsky while taking the lucrative oil company from which he derived most of his wealth. The panel said Russia “was not driven by motives of tax collection” in auctioning off a core business but “by the desire of the state to acquire Yukos’ most valuable asset.”

由三人組成的仲裁庭在長約600頁的裁定書中寫道，沒收並拆分尤科斯公司的行爲是出於政治原因而採取的行動，目的是消除霍多爾科夫斯基的影響力，同時奪取他名下利潤豐厚的石油公司。霍多爾科夫斯基的大部分財富都來源於這家公司。仲裁小組認定，俄羅斯在拍賣一項核心業務時，“動機並不是稅收”，而是“意欲讓國家取得尤科斯公司最有價值的資產”。

“In short,” the tribunal said, “it was in effect a devious and calculated expropriation.”

仲裁小組表示，“簡而言之，這實際上是一個精心策劃的、狡詐的盤剝行爲。”

“This has to be a considerable source of embarrassment and frustration for the small group of people at the helm” in Russia, said John Lough, a Russia analyst at Chatham House, a research organization in London.

倫敦研究機構皇家國際事務研究所(Chatham House)的俄羅斯問題專家約翰·洛(John Lough)表示，這爲俄羅斯“掌舵的一小羣人，帶來了相當大的尷尬和挫折”。

Still, the award, which was less than shareholders sought, may prove a largely symbolic blow. It is unclear how shareholders will collect the money from Russia.

不過，這次裁定的賠償低於股東提出的金額，而且這項裁定產生的衝擊，基本上也只是象徵性的。目前尚不清楚股東會怎樣從俄羅斯收取賠償金。

Lawyers for the shareholders said they expected the government to resist paying the award and that the case could drag on for years. If Russia did not pay, the lawyers said, they would go to court outside Russia to seize state-owned commercial assets, focusing in particular on Rosneft, the state-owned oil giant. Rosneft acquired the crown jewel of Yukos, a unit called Yuganskneftegaz, for a bargain price in the bankruptcy proceedings.

股東的代理律師表示，他們預期政府會拒絕給予賠償，這個案件可能也會拖延數年。律師們表示，如果俄羅斯不做賠償，他們會在俄羅斯以外的法庭起訴，要求沒收俄羅斯國有的商業資產，尤其會關注國有石油巨擘俄羅斯石油公司(Rosneft)。在破產程序當中，Rosneft以極低的價格收購了尤科斯公司冠冕上的明珠尤甘斯克石油天然氣公司(Yuganskneftegaz)。

“We are thrilled with this decision, although we know it is not the end of the road,” said Tim Osborne, director of GML, the holding company created by the Yukos founder that owned about 60 percent of the oil company.

GML公司董事蒂姆·奧斯本(Tim Osborne)說，“這個裁定讓我們感到振奮，儘管我們知道前面還有路要走。”GML是霍多爾科夫斯基建立的控股公司，持有尤科斯60%的股份。

Russia’s Ministry of Finance said it would appeal. “Instead of an objective, impartial consideration of the case, the arbitration court ruled based on current developments and as a result adopted a politically biased decision,” it said in a statement on its website.

俄羅斯財政部稱將會上訴。該部在其官方網站上發表聲明稱，“仲裁庭並未客觀、公正地審理案件，而是根據當前的局勢做出了裁定，因此出具的裁決有政治偏見。”

The Yukos story traces back to the years after the fall of the Soviet Union. In the early 1990s, Moscow allowed a handful of aggressive traders and financiers to take over much of the oil business and other industries previously controlled by the state. Mr. Khodorkovsky, who had founded a bank called Menatep, gained control of Yukos in 1995 at a cheap price through an auction widely considered rigged.

尤科斯公司的故事可以追溯到蘇聯解體後的那幾年。上世紀90年代初，莫斯科允許少數一些有進取心的商人和金融業者，接手過去由國家控制的大部分石油生意和其他產業。霍多爾科夫斯基先是建立了一家名爲梅納捷普(Menatep)的銀行，此後1995年在一場拍賣中以低廉的價格，取得了尤科斯公司的控制權。人們廣泛認爲，那次拍賣過程中有人做了手腳。

Despite having little industry knowledge, Mr. Khodorkovsky helped revive the company by bringing in Western techniques like water injection and fracking. Production at Yukos almost doubled between 1995 and 2003.

儘管霍多爾科夫斯基此前對這個行業幾乎一無所知，他仍然通過引進注水法和水力壓裂法等西方技術幫助公司重振雄風。從1995年到2003年，尤科斯的產量幾乎翻了一番。

But Mr. Khodorkovsky fell out of favor with Mr. Putin, who is said to have bridled at the chairman’s rumored political ambitions and aggressive lobbying on business matters. In October 2003, agents arrested Mr. Khodorkovsky at a Siberian airport. He served 10 years in jail on charges of embezzlement and tax fraud before being pardoned by Mr. Putin late last year.

不過，霍多爾科夫斯基在普京那裏失寵了，傳聞這位尤科斯的總裁頗有政治野心，據說就是這一點和他遊說商業事務時咄咄逼人的態度惹怒了普京。2003年10月，警方探員在西伯利亞機場逮捕了霍多爾科夫斯基。他因受到挪用公款和稅務欺詐指控而服了十年徒刑，去年末，普京赦免了他。

Shareholders viewed the ruling, made on July 18 and unveiled on Monday, as a victory.

股東們把今年7月18日出臺並於本週一公佈的裁決視爲一次勝利。

“The findings were predictable for any unbiased observer,” Mr. Khodorkovsky said in an emailed statement. “From beginning to end, the Yukos case has been an instance of unabashed plundering of a successful company by a mafia with links to the state.”

“任何一名不帶偏見的觀察者都會預見這樣的裁決結果。”霍多爾科夫斯基在用電子郵件發表的聲明中表示。“尤科斯一案，從頭到尾就是一個與官方勾結的小集團厚顏無恥地劫掠一家成功企業的案例。”

Mr. Osborne, a British tax lawyer who runs GML, said on Monday that he expected Russia to apply to courts in the Netherlands to have the awards set aside. He also indicated that GML would be open to a settlement. “We accept there is a benefit to being paid straight away.”

經營GML的英國稅務律師奧斯本週一表示，他預計俄羅斯會向位於荷蘭的法庭申請撤銷賠償裁決。他還暗示，GML願意接受和解方案。“要承認，能立即拿到錢對我們有益。”