A group of minority shareholders in BP PLC's (BP) Russian joint venture TNK-BP Holding (TNBP.RS), who are claiming $13 billion in damages from the U.K. oil major, have filed a new law suit to have a recent vote by the TNK-BP's board declared illegal.

According to a statement published Thursday by a law firm representing the minority shareholders, a vote by the TNK-BP board on Oct. 24 not to join their $13 billion in damages claim was illegal, because two BP members of the board participated in the vote.

The two board members, Richard Scott Sloan and Peter Anthony Charow, are the subject of part of that $13 billion claim against BP and therefore were ineligible to vote, the minority shareholders said.

Last month, the minority shareholders asked TNK-BP to join the law suit against the U.K. company.

The new law suit to declare the board vote illegal was filed in the Arbitration Court of Russia's Tyumen Region, where TNK-BP Holding is registered.

The minority shareholders allege that BP-nominated board members in May acted against the interest of TNK-BP by voting against a proposal by the joint venture to replace BP in a $16 billion share swap and Arctic exploration deal with state oil producer OAO Rosneft (ROSN.RS).

BP announced the Rosneft tie-up in January, but the deal was blocked in court by BP's partners in TNK-BP--a consortium of Soviet-born businessmen known as Alfa-Access-Renova--who claim that under their shareholder agreement, BP must pursue all projects within Russia through the joint venture.
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