A back tax claim worth almost $1 billion reported Friday in Russian media doesn't relate to OAO TNK-BP (TNBP.RS) itself a spokeswoman for the Anglo-Russian oil venture, half-owned by BP PLC (BP.LN) said Friday.
"This is a criminal case and has nothing to do with our company," the spokeswoman said.
The Vedomosti business daily had said the Interior Ministry is investigating $950 million in unpaid profit taxes dating back to before TNK-BP was formed.
That claim could relate to Semyon Kukes, a former head of Tyumen Oil Company, a precursor to TNK-BP, the paper said.
TNK-BP itself was hit with back tax claims for 2001 and 2003, but they have all been paid in full, the spokeswoman said Friday.
TNK-BP's shareholders are currently at odds over the position of Chief Executive Robert Dudley, with the Russian billionaires which own the other half of the company seeking his dismissal.
In addition, TNK-BP's offices have been raided by security services in what many analysts believe is pressure ahead of a state-owned energy firm acquiring a stake in the company.