Tax police raid oil giant Yukos

Russian tax inspectors have raided the headquarters of oil giant Yukos, whose assets were frozen earlier this month as part of a tax fraud inquiry.

Officials entered the central Moscow building and seized papers which they said related to tax evasion cases.

Yukos has been charged with shirking payment of $3.5bn (£1.9bn) in taxes.

The firm’s billionaire ex-boss Mikhail Khodorkovsky is in jail on tax fraud charges; many Russians see his arrest as politically motivated.

Speaking after the raid, a spokeswoman for Yukos said: “They came and took documents. The search is now over.”

The raid on the oil company’s head office was carried out by tax fraud inspectors from the Interior Ministry, Interfax news agency reported.