St Petersburg arbitration of second instance upheld the first instance ruling supporting JTI’s appeal against the hefty tax bill the company had received from the tax agency for the year 2001.

Last September, St Petersburg’s regional arbitrage allowed the appeal of JTI Petro against the US$ 14 million back tax claims that had been raised against JTI’s subsidiary Petro, Russia’s biggest cigarette maker. JTI has submitted a detailed report on the tax calculation. JTI Russia’s PR director Anatoly Vereschagin expressed the company’s satisfaction with the latest ruling and stressed strict adherence to the local law as JTI’s principled position, reports the Russian daily Business. (vt)