Russia inquiries force PwC to withdraw Yukos audits

The international accountancy group PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has withdrawn nine years of audits for bankrupt oil group Yukos following a series of tax inquiries, PwC said on Monday.
"PwC decided to withdraw its audit opinions for Yukos when it became aware of new information which had it been known at the time may have affected Yukos's audit reports," the company said in a statement. The audits cover the years between 1996 and 2004, the statement said.
Yukos, once Russia's biggest oil producer and a company that prided itself on its financial transparency, has been taken apart by investigations for fraud and tax evasion that began in 2003.