Russian Court Adjourns Hearing of Dalsvyaz Tax Appeal

MOSCOW, Aug 25 (Prime-Tass) -- The Moscow Arbitration Court adjourned on Friday the hearings of an appeal filed by Russian regional telecommunication operator Dalsvyaz against a 718 million ruble back tax claim until September 1.

In February 2005, Russian tax authorities filed a tax claim amounting to 718 million rubles against Dalsvyaz for 2001-2002, following an audit in 2004.

Of the total amount, unpaid taxes account for 461.8 million rubles, while the remaining 256.2 million rubles makes up fines and penalties.

The company contested the method used by tax authorities to calculate the claim, Dalsvyaz representatives said earlier.

In February 2005, the Moscow Arbitration Court temporarily suspended the collection of the tax authorities' claim in order to enable Dalsvyaz to contest the case in court.

Dalsvyaz provides telecom services in the Primorsky, Khabarovsk, Amur, Kamchatka, Magadan and Sakhalin regions and in the Jewish Autonomous District, all in Russia's Far East federal District. The operator's mobile user base stood at about 83,500 subscribers as of July 1. Its fixed-line subscriber base totaled 1.334 million users as of July 1, according to the company's reports.

Russian national telecom holding Svyazinvest holds a 50.6% voting stake in Dalsvyaz, or 38.1% of its charter capital. Foreign investors hold more than 25% in the company.

(26.7863 rubles - U.S. $1)

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Posted to the site on 25th August 2006