TeliaSonera Denies Bribery Allegations Over Uzbekistan Investment

Published on: 24th Sep 2012

­TeliaSonera has denied allegations of bribery and money laundering that were aired in a recent television show in Sweden concerning its operations in Uzbekistan.

SVT's current affairs' programme: Uppdrag gransking alleged that when TeliaSonera bought its stake in an Uzbekistan based mobile network, it routed the payments though Gibraltar via a company which had close links to the daughter of Uzbek President Islam Karimov.

The Gibraltar based firm, Takilant served as TeliaSonera's local partner in the transaction and was paid US$337 million for its 3G licenses. The allegations are that those payments were not for the licenses, but were a bribe to the President's family.

In a press conference after the TV show, TeliaSonera's President and CEO Lars Nyberg said "These are serious allegations being directed at TeliaSonera. I am convinced that TeliaSonera did not bribe anyone and has not participated in any money laundering."

"The allegations of bribery and money laundering directed at TeliaSonera in the Uppdrag Granskning programme are of such a serious nature that I will initiate an external review to ascertain whether there are any grounds for these allegations. The results will be ready before the end of the year."

The company reiterated that its payments to Takilant were a legitimate transaction to acquire the assets it held in Uzbekistan.

However, despite the new bribary allegations, the company said that it had been monitoring the situation in the country due to its worsening human rights record and the confiscation of the mobile license held by MTS. Lars Nyberg aded that the company may consider leaving the country due to the ongoing situation there.

In a separate statement, TeliaSonera's Chairman Anders Narvinger said that "The board has full confidence in TeliaSonera's President and CEO Lars Nyberg and in the way management handles the situation. I share Lars Nyberg's concern about developments in Uzbekistan, both from a human rights and business climate perspective. Uzbekistan is currently the country which gives rise to most concerns for TeliaSonera."

 

Tags: [teliasonera]  [Uzbekistan]  [Sweden]