Russia telecoms giant MTS to pay $850 mn in US corruption case

Yahoo – AFP, March 7, 2019

The case shed light on massive corruption in Uzbekistan under the late
president Islam Karimov (AFP Photo/MAXIM SHEMETOV)

Moscow (AFP) - Russia's leading telecoms firm said Thursday it had agreed to pay $850 million to settle a US corruption case over huge bribes paid to the family of Uzbekistan's former president.

The case shed light on massive corruption in Uzbekistan under former president Islam Karimov, who ruled the ex-Soviet republic from 1990 until his death in 2016.

MTS, based in Moscow and listed on the New York Stock Exchange, said the settlement had been agreed with the US Justice Department and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The deals "mark the closure of the investigations into the company's acquisition and operation of its former subsidiary in Uzbekistan," MTS said in a statement.

In agreeing to the fine "MTS affirmed its commitment" to complying with anti-corruption legislation, it said.

MTS was in a long-running dispute with the Uzbek authorities, which seized the company's local subsidiary in 2012 after cancelling its operating licenses for alleged tax evasion.

The Uzbek subsidiary, which had 9.5 million subscribers by the end of 2011, filed for bankruptcy in 2013.

The SEC said that MTS had "bribed an Uzbek official" related to Karimov to obtain and retain business operations in Uzbekistan, a Central Asian nation of more than 32 million people.

"The company engaged in egregious misconduct for nearly a decade, secretly funnelling hundreds of millions of dollars to a corrupt official," the SEC said in a statement.

An investigation by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project previously said that the subsidiary, which was known as Uzdunrobita before it was acquired by MTS, had paid hundreds of millions of dollars to companies owned by Karimov's daughter Gulnara.

The OCCRP, an NGO that works with investigative reporters mainly in Eastern Europe, alleged that MTS made payments in 2004 and 2007 to purchase stakes in the company.

MTS was not the only telecoms company involved. "Karimova squeezed more than $1 billion worth of payments... out of international telecom-related companies," OCCRP said.

Some commentators in Russia expressed dismay that the US was fining Russian companies for operations in third countries.

"What concern does the US have about the faraway Uzbekistan and Russian operators?" said a journalist on BFM business radio, pointing out that "the money will go to the American budget, not the Uzbek one."

Uzbekistan is led by Karimov's former prime minister Shavkat Mirziyoyev, who has moved to end the country's economic isolation and removed visa restrictions for travellers from European Union countries and the United States.

Gulnara Karimova, once a high-profile diplomat and pop singer, was being held under house arrest after being convicted on fraud and money laundering charges in 2017 and sentenced to five years.

Uzbek authorities this week said she had violated the terms of her house arrest and had been sent to prison where she would remain until the end of her sentence.

Dutch prosecutors reach $274m deal with Telia in Uzbek corruption case

DutchNews, September 22, 2017

Photo: Despositphotos.com 

Three Rotterdam based subsidiaries of Swedish telecom giant Telia have agreed to pay $274m in an out of court settlement for bribing government officials and keeping inaccurate books and records. 

The fine relates to the company’s efforts to gain access to the Uzbek telecom market, during which officials paid bribes to the eldest daughter of the former president of Uzbekistan via its Dutch subsidiaries, the public prosecution department said. The deal covers the period 2007 to 2010. 

Telia has also reached settlements with the US department of justice and the US securities and exchange commission. In total, the company has agreed to pay $965m to settle the charges. 

The Netherlands considers the fine as ‘appropriate’, the Dutch prosecutor said in a statement. ‘It is a punishment that hurts, and it does justice to the significance of the acts committed as well as to the disruption these acts caused to the legal order.  The parallel [US] government action against corruption demonstrates that corruption is tackled internationally.’ 

Uzbek strongman leader Islam Karimov dies

Yahoo – AFP, Max Delaney, September 2, 2016

Uzbek President Islam Karimov died on September 2, 2016 (AFP Photo/Maxim
Shemetov)

Moscow (AFP) - Uzbekistan's President Islam Karimov died Friday, the government announced, ending over a quarter of a century of his iron-fisted rule in the Central Asian nation with no clear successor lined up.

"Dear compatriots, it is with huge grief in our hearts that we announce to you the death of our dear president," a state TV presenter said, reading an official statement.

Authorities said Karimov, 78, was pronounced dead at 20:55 local time (15:55 GMT) following days of speculation that authorities were delaying announcing his passing after he reportedly suffered a stroke over the weekend.

The strongman's funeral will be held in his home city of Samarkand on Saturday as the country begins three days of mourning, the statement said, with Uzbekistan now facing the greatest moment of uncertainty of its post-Soviet history.

Loyalist Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyoyev is heading the organisation committee for the funeral, suggesting that he could be in line to take over long-term from Karimov.

Officially senate head Nigmatulla Yuldashev should now become acting president until early elections are held.

Karimov's youngest daughter Lola wrote on Facebook that "he has left us...I am struggling for words, I can't believe it myself".

'Great loss'

Long lambasted by rights groups as one of the region's most brutal despots who ruthlessly stamped out opposition, Karimov was one of a handful of Soviet strongmen that clung to power after their homelands gained independence from Moscow in 1991.

Karimov portrayed himself as guarantor of stability and bulwark against radical Islam on the borders of Afghanistan, crushing fundamentalist groups at home.

Factfile on Uzbekistan. (AFP Photo/Vincent LEFAI, Kun TIAN)

Russian President Vladimir Putin called Karimov's death "a great loss for the people of Uzbekistan" in a telegram to interim leader Yuldashev, while Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev is set to jet in for the funeral.

Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who appointed Karimov to head the former Socialist Republic of Uzbekistan in 1989, told Interfax news agency that Karimov was "a competent man with a strong character".

Born on January 30, 1938, Karimov was raised in an orphanage in the ancient city of Samarkand, before studying mechanical engineering and economics and rising up Communist Party ranks.

Rights groups -- which have long accused Karimov's regime of the most heinous abuses including torture and forced labour in the lucrative cotton industry -- said his time in power had been a catastrophe for Uzbekistan.

"Islam Karimov leaves a legacy of a quarter century of ruthless repression," Steve Swerdlow, Central Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch, said.

"Karimov ruled through fear to erect a system synonymous with the worst human rights abuses: torture, disappearances, forced labour, and the systematic crushing of dissent."

Most seriously, the authorities have been accused of killing hundreds of protesters in the eastern city of Andijan in 2005.

In the wake of international criticism over the alleged massacre, which Karimov's regime rebuffed, Tashkent shut down a US military base used to supply operations in neighbouring Afghanistan since 2001.

But the wily veteran played Russia, China and the West against each other to keep Uzbekistan from total isolation and it continues to receive limited US aid.

Despite economic growth figures of some eight percent, critics say that Uzbekistan's economy is in a dire situation with a corrupt elite in control of most of its industry.

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"Recalibration of Knowledge" – Jan 14, 2012 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: Channelling, God-Creator, Benevolent Design, New Energy, Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Reincarnation, Gaia, Old Energies (Africa, Terrorists, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela ... ), Weather, Rejuvenation, Akash, Nicolas Tesla / Einstein, Cold Fusion, Magnetics, Lemuria, Atomic Structure (Electrons, Particles, Polarity, Self Balancing, Magnetism), Entanglement, "Life is necessary for a Universe to exist and not the other way around", DNA, Humans (Baby getting ready, First Breath, Stem Cells, Embryonic Stem Cells, Rejuvenation), Global Unity, ... etc.) - (Text Version)

“…  I want you to watch some countries. I don't have a clock [this statement is Kryon telling us that there is no time frame on his side of the veil, only potentials]. I'll just tell you, it's imminent [in Spirit's timing, this could mean as soon as a decade]. I want you to watch some countries carefully for changes. You're going to be seeing changes that are obvious, and some that are not obvious [covert or assumptive]. But the obvious ones you will see sooner than not - Cuba, Korea [North], Iran, of course, and Venezuela. I want you to watch what happens when they start to realize that they don't have any more allies on Earth! Even their brothers who used to support them in their hatred of some are saying, "Well, perhaps not anymore. It doesn't seem to be supporting us anymore." Watch the synchronicities that are occurring. The leaders who have either died or are going to in the next year or so will take with them the old ways. Watch what happens to those who take their place, and remember these meetings where I described these potentials to you. …”

German FM lauds Kyrgyzstan as a stable democracy in a volatile region

German Foreign Minister Steinmeier has visited the central-Asian Republic of Kyrgyzstan, praising the country as a "living democracy." However, he also highlighted the growing threat posed to the region by extremism.

Deutsche Welle, 1 April 2016

 Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Almazbek Atambayev

While touring Bishkek, the capital of the former Soviet Republic of Kyrgyzstan, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier promised to deliver further funds in aid to help the country maintain a stable democracy. Following a meeting with President Almazbek Atambayev, Steinmeier announced that Kyrgyzstan paid an "exceedingly important contribution to guaranteeing stability in the region as a living, parliamentary democracy."

With the so-called "Islamic State" movement gaining influence in the region and recruiting a fast-growing number of locals to fight for them in Syria and Iraq, Steinmeier also stressed that a strong democracy provided a good measure to prevent "radicalism and fundamentalism from taking hold."

Kyrgyz Foreign Minister Erlan Abdyldaev said, however, that in order maintain that standard, the country needed more money.

"We also wish for our country to be open and democratic. But democracy cannot thrive in poverty," he said, according to the German DPA news agency.

A lifeline out of poverty

With the country's economy relying largely on the mining of coal and gold, 40 percent of its 5.7 million-strong population are currently living below the poverty line, according to the International Monetary Fund. But with Russia's economy dragging many of its former Soviet republics down as well, stability and safety come at a cost, which the landlocked republic can barely afford.

Kyrgyzstan was Steinmeier's second stop in a three-day-tour of the region. Having visited Uzbekistan earlier, the foreign minister prepared to head for his final stop on the itinerary, Tajikistan, where he is due to meet with authoritarian President Emomali Rahmon, who has been ruling over the impoverished mountain state since it broke off from the USSR in 1991.

ss/jr (dpa)

Dutch agree $397m settlement with VimpelCom over corruption

DutchNews, February 19, 2016

Amsterdam-based telecoms company VimpelCom has agreed to pay $835m to settle Dutch and US charges that it paid huge bribes to enter the Uzbekistan telecommunications market. 

The Russian-owned company is based in Amsterdam’s Zuidas business district and the deal is thought to be the biggest ever struck by the Dutch prosecution department. The payment to the Dutch authorities amounts to $397m. 

In total, VimpelCom paid over $114m in bribes to government officials, the public prosecution department said in a statement. The bribes were paid to enter the Uzbek telecom market in 2006 and in connection with obtaining telecommunication licenses for 3G and LTE frequencies. 

Corruption

‘Vimpelcom benefits from the favorable business climate in The Netherlands. The company must adhere to Dutch laws and regulations, also when trading abroad,’ the department said. 

In addition, the department is conducting a criminal investigation into several individuals, one of whom has Dutch nationality. He was arrested in November and taken into custody, the department said, but released no further details. 

More on this

Xi and Putin driving Eurasia resurgence, says Duowei

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2015-07-13

Chinese president Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir
Putin in the Russian city of Ufa, July 10, 2015. (Photo/Xinhua)

Chinese president Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin are actively driving the resurgence of Eurasia, reports Duowei News, a US-based Chinese political news outlet.

Xi and Putin were among the leaders who attended the "dual summit" of the BRICS nations — Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa — and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation — China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan —in the Russian city of Ufa on July 8-10.

In his speech at the BRICS summit, Xi called for the formation of a community of responsibility and common destiny based on mutual political trust, economic integration and cultural tolerance.

The importance Xi has placed on the dual summits reflects China's growing investment in diplomacy as part of the country's continuing plan to comprehensively deepen reforms, Duowei said.

Since coming to power in November 2012 as general secretary of the Communist Party, Xi has sought to strengthen ties with Africa and Latin America, as well as build a new type of "major powers" relationship with the US, Duowei said, though it is clear that his primary focus is firmly on Eurasia.

According to Duowei, China's main strategic emphasis now is Xi's ambitious "Belt and Road" initiative, which aims to boost connectivity and cooperation among countries in Eurasia. The two-tier project comprising the land-based Silk Road Economic Belt and the sea-based Maritime Silk Road is likely to be tied in with the newly formed, Beijing-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and New Development Bank (NDB), formerly the BRICS Development Bank, and its US$100 billion emergency reserve fund, of which China is the largest contributor with a share of 41%.

China is not the only country aiming for a Eurasia resurgence, Duowei said, adding that Russia as well as other emerging nations have also been moving towards developing stategies of regional integration.

This is not surprising given Eurasia's strong potential, Duowei said. Eurasia accounts for 75% of the world's population and holds a significant portion of the world's mineral resources. Up to 60% of the world's gross national product is attributable to Eurasia, and three-quarters of the world's known energy resources are also found on the Eurasia mainland, Duowei added, noting that proper strategies and management will reap massive benefits for every party in the long run.

The three main powers in Eurasia are the European Union, Russia and China, Duowei said. The EU is struggling with the Greek debt crisis, while Russia is reeling from the economic sanctions imposed as a result of its annexation of the Crimean penninsula from Ukraine last year, leaving China as the most important driving force of the region, Duowei added.

The unprecendented level of cooperation and integration developing across Eurasia provides cause for optimism, notwithstanding the instability caused by sluggish economies, terrorism, religious fundamentalism, environmental pollution, territorial disputes and military conflicts, Duowei said.

For Beijing, a prosperous Eurasia is not only the key to reviving China's slowing economy, it is the road to greater international credibility and authority, Duowei said. While there is still much integration to be coordinated and many obstacles to overcome, China must face these problems head on if it intends to succeed, Duowei added.

A limited attendance meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Heads

of State Council in the Russian city of Ufa, July 10, 2015. (Photo/CFP)

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 leaders, leaders of invited countries and the BRICS nations, namely Brazil, Russia,

India, China and South Africa in Ufa, Russia, July 9, 2015. (Xinhua/Rao Aimin)

Beijing ratifies protocol for nuclear-weapon-free treaty in Central Asia

Want China Times, Xinhua 2015-04-25

The 14th session of the 12th NPC Standing Committee held in the Great
Hall of the People in Beijing, April 24. (File photo/Xinhua)

China's top legislature on Friday ratified the protocol to the Treaty on Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone (NWFZ) in Central Asia.

After approving the protocol, the National People's Congress Standing Committee declared that no security protocol or treaty will undermine the status of the NWFZ, and that all explanations and applications of the clauses in the protocol shall support the goal of the building of the NWFZ in Central Asia.

The protocol was signed by representatives of China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States on May 6, 2014 in New York.

The protocol provides legally-binding assurances not to use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against parties to the NWFZ parties.

Enacted in 2009, the treaty commits the signatories, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, to refrain from developing, acquiring or possessing nuclear weapons.

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Tajik vote overshadowed by ruble slump

Voters have cast ballots in Tajikistan for a new parliament likely to be held by President Emomali Rakhmon's secularists. Many migrant Tajiks have returned to the Central Asian nation because of Russia's economic slump.

Deutsche Welle, 1 March 2015

Ex-Soviet Tajikistan voted on Sunday with few signs of genuine parliamentary opposition to the 22-year-old rule of President Rakhmon. Election results are expected on Monday morning local time.

Campaigning had been hardly visible, said monitors of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). They added that online news sources had been "intermittently blocked" and local journalists were practicing "self-censorship," fearing intimidation.

Rakhmon's secular government defeated Islamist rebels in a bitter 1992-97 civil war. In the last election in 2010, the Islamic Revival Party of Tajikistan (IRPT), which includes many former fighters, won only two seats.

Its leader, Muhiddin Kabiri, said the IRPT hope to win at least five seats to form its own parliamentary caucus or faction - despite what he said were attempts to "blacken" the party's reputation via social media.

Firm hold in past parliament

Rakhmon won a fourth term
as president in 2013

Since 2010, Rakhmon's People's Democratic Party has held 55 mandates in the 63-seat Assembly of Representatives, parliament's lower chamber.

The president himself was re-elected in 2013 to a fourth seven-year term.

Voters thronged to polling stations in sunny weather in the capital Dushanbe on Sunday, with some expressing fears about their economic prospects.

Extra jobs for returning migrants

During campaigning, the government promised 200,000 extra jobs for Tajiks returning from Russia, where manual jobs, such as cleaning and snow clearing, no longer generate adequate remittances given the ruble's sharp decline.

Money sent to families back home has until recently accounted for up to half of Tajikistan's gross domestic product (GDP).

Russia's economy has suffered under Western sanctions linked to the Ukraine crisis and plunging prices worldwide for oil and gas sales.

A migrant workers' association in the western Russian city of Saint Petersburg said last week that migrants from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan were increasingly adverse to "meager" pay.

Social tensions

Tajik political analysts have warned that social tensions could rise further in Tajikistan as a result.

Alexander Knyazev, a Central Asian analyst, said a return of a large number of disgruntled workers might leave President Rakhmon facing social unrest.

Tajikistan, a mountainous nation of 8.3 million people, hosts 7,000 Russian soldiers, making it the largest contingent stationed abroad outside Crimea.

ipj/gsw (dpa, Reuters, AFP)

China signs protocol to nuclear-free treaty in Central Asia

Want China Times, Xinhua 2014-05-07

Liu Jieyi, second left, and representatives of Russia, the United States,
France and Britain at the signing ceremony in New York, May 6. (Photo/Xinhua)

China on Wednesday signed a protocol to the Treaty on a Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone in Central Asia.

"China supports the efforts of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan to establish a nuclear-weapon-free zone in Central Asia, which serves the purposes of strengthening the international non-proliferation regime, advancing the nuclear disarmament process, and promoting peace and security in the region and beyond," Chinese permanent envoy to the UN Liu Jieyi said in a statement.

China has made a solemn commitment of no-first-use of nuclear weapons at any time or under any circumstances, and promised that under no circumstances will it use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear-weapon states and nuclear-weapon-free zones, the statement said.

"China is committed to strictly complying with the obligations of this protocol after signing and ratification," it said. "At the same time, China believes that any security agreement or treaty will not affect the position of the nuclear-weapon-free zone, and interpretation and application of all the provisions of this protocol must comply with its aim and purpose of establishing a nuclear-weapon-free zone in Central Asia."

China hopes the protocol will enter into force at an early date and is willing to make joint efforts with the Central Asian countries to achieve the goal of the complete prohibition and thorough destruction of nuclear weapons in the world, said the statement.

China signed the protocol with the five Central Asian countries at the UN headquarters together with Russia, the United States, France and Britain.

Bikini Atoll, Marshall Islands, where a 15-megaton device equivalent to a thousand

Hiroshima blasts, detonated in 1954. Photograph: US Air Force - digital version

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