MOSCOW, July 7 (UPI) -- The Russian government denied Wednesday it had received any offer from Yukos oil's jailed former CEO offering to sell his shares, Interfax news agency said.
Novosti news agency had reported earlier Wednesday Mikhail Khodorkovsky sent a letter to Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov offering his own 44 percent share in Yukos, the largest oil company in Russia, in return for writing off the company's tax debts. Yukos must pay 3.4 billion in back taxes to the Kremlin by Thursday and was hit last week with a second $3.4 billion back tax claim.
However, Alexander Zharov, Fradkov's press secretary later denied the report.
"The prime minister's secretariat has not yet received a letter from Khodorkovsky to Mikhail Fradkov," he said.
Khodorkovsky is in jail in Moscow awaiting trial on charges of fraud and tax evasion.
