国际法庭在尤科斯拆分案中判俄罗斯政府败诉

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.

一家国际法庭裁定，现已不复存在的尤科斯石油公司(Yukos)的股东们应当得到超过500亿美元（约合3100亿元人民币）的赔偿。裁决认定俄罗斯政府从该国最强大的寡头之一手中不正当地夺走了这家公司。

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这宗赔偿，是国际仲裁史上金额最大的一宗。2003年，俄罗斯当局逮捕了尤科斯公司的总裁米哈伊尔·B·霍多尔科夫斯基(Mikhail B. Khodorkovsky)，并在随后几年里将他的公司出售。这次的赔偿裁定是始于2003年的这场纠纷中最新的发展。

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.

霍多尔科夫斯基在上世纪90年代俄罗斯的私有化拍卖中，取得了尤科斯的控制权，而之后这家能源公司受到的攻击，在一些人看来，是克里姆林宫试图纠正私有化过程中出现的违规做法。但包括尤科斯股东在内的另一些人则认为，这家公司遇到的麻烦，以及霍多尔科夫斯基的入狱，是俄罗斯政府在对他的政治抱负进行惩罚，也是政府在夺回油气产业的控制权。

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.

这项裁决支持了股东的诉求，加剧了俄罗斯承受的压力。当前，俄罗斯由于激化乌克兰的危机，受到了美国和欧洲越来越严厉的审视。尤科斯公司的案件让人联想起更广泛的一些担忧，即在弗拉基米尔·V·普京(Vladimir V. Putin)的领导下，俄罗斯意图钳制反对派，并将其巨额财产放在克里姆林宫圈内人的手中。

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.”

由三人组成的仲裁庭在长约600页的裁定书中写道，没收并拆分尤科斯公司的行为是出于政治原因而采取的行动，目的是消除霍多尔科夫斯基的影响力，同时夺取他名下利润丰厚的石油公司。霍多尔科夫斯基的大部分财富都来源于这家公司。仲裁小组认定，俄罗斯在拍卖一项核心业务时，“动机并不是税收”，而是“意欲让国家取得尤科斯公司最有价值的资产”。

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

仲裁小组表示，“简而言之，这实际上是一个精心策划的、狡诈的盘剥行为。”

“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.

伦敦研究机构皇家国际事务研究所(Chatham House)的俄罗斯问题专家约翰·洛(John Lough)表示，这为俄罗斯“掌舵的一小群人，带来了相当大的尴尬和挫折”。

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.

不过，这次裁定的赔偿低于股东提出的金额，而且这项裁定产生的冲击，基本上也只是象征性的。目前尚不清楚股东会怎样从俄罗斯收取赔偿金。

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.

股东的代理律师表示，他们预期政府会拒绝给予赔偿，这个案件可能也会拖延数年。律师们表示，如果俄罗斯不做赔偿，他们会在俄罗斯以外的法庭起诉，要求没收俄罗斯国有的商业资产，尤其会关注国有石油巨擘俄罗斯石油公司(Rosneft)。在破产程序当中，Rosneft以极低的价格收购了尤科斯公司冠冕上的明珠尤甘斯克石油天然气公司(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·奥斯本(Tim Osborne)说，“这个裁定让我们感到振奋，尽管我们知道前面还有路要走。”GML是霍多尔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.

俄罗斯财政部称将会上诉。该部在其官方网站上发表声明称，“仲裁庭并未客观、公正地审理案件，而是根据当前的局势做出了裁定，因此出具的裁决有政治偏见。”

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苏联解体后的那几年。上世纪90年代初，莫斯科允许少数一些有进取心的商人和金融业者，接手过去由国家控制的大部分石油生意和其他产业。霍多尔科夫斯基先是建立了一家名为梅纳捷普(Menatep)的银行，此后1995年在一场拍卖中以低廉的价格，取得了尤科斯公司的控制权。人们广泛认为，那次拍卖过程中有人做了手脚。

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.

尽管霍多尔科夫斯基此前对这个行业几乎一无所知，他仍然通过引进注水法和水力压裂法等西方技术帮助公司重振雄风。从1995年到2003年，尤科斯的产量几乎翻了一番。

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.

不过，霍多尔科夫斯基在普京那里失宠了，传闻这位尤科斯的总裁颇有政治野心，据说就是这一点和他游说商业事务时咄咄逼人的态度惹怒了普京。2003年10月，警方探员在西伯利亚机场逮捕了霍多尔科夫斯基。他因受到挪用公款和税务欺诈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.

股东们把今年7月18日出台并于本周一公布的裁决视为一次胜利。

“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.”

“任何一名不带偏见的观察者都会预见这样的裁决结果。”霍多尔科夫斯基在用电子邮件发表的声明中表示。“尤科斯一案，从头到尾就是一个与官方勾结的小集团厚颜无耻地劫掠一家成功企业的案例。”

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.”

经营GML的英国税务律师奥斯本周一表示，他预计俄罗斯会向位于荷兰的法庭申请撤销赔偿裁决。他还暗示，GML愿意接受和解方案。“要承认，能立即拿到钱对我们有益。”