OREANDA-NEWS. September 6, 2007. The Ninth Appeals Court left a ruling of the Moscow Arbitration Court unchanged with respect to the unsubstantiated claim made in a complaint filed by Inter-Regional Federal Tax Inspectorate # 7 for Major Tax Payers against CenterTelecom on the results of a 2002-2003 field tax audit of the company.

In April 2006 Tax Inspectorate # 7 forwarded the Decision on a 2002-2003 field tax audit of CenterTelecom claiming that the operator committed a tax violation. The claim amounted to Rub 2.3 bln, of which taxes accounted for Rub 1.4 bln and fines and penalties for Rub 1.4 bln.  The bulk of the claims related to interconnect payments.  CenterTelecom challenged the Decision of Tax Inspectorate # 7 in the Moscow Arbitration Court.  The court ruled on February 27, 2007 to invalidate the claim amounting to Rub 2.3 bln. 

In response to the ruling of the Moscow Arbitration Court, Inter-Regional Federal Tax Inspectorate # 7 for Major Tax Payers filed an appeal to Arbitration Court # 9.  As a result of judicial proceedings, the court ruled to reject the appeal, leaving the ruling of the general jurisdiction court unchanged.

According to the General Director of CenterTelecom Vaagn Martirosyan, the decision of the Arbitration Appeals Court serves as confirmation that the company has always carried out its operator activity in strict accordance with the current legislation.