{"id":211625,"date":"2015-09-21T23:35:01","date_gmt":"2015-09-21T23:35:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/article\/teliasonera-leaves-eurasia-after-uzbekistan-scandal-2\/"},"modified":"2021-10-29T12:37:07","modified_gmt":"2021-10-29T08:37:07","slug":"teliasonera-leaves-eurasia-after-uzbekistan-scandal-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/article\/teliasonera-leaves-eurasia-after-uzbekistan-scandal-2\/","title":{"rendered":"TeliaSonera Leaves Eurasia After Uzbekistan Scandal"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Nordic telecoms giant TeliaSonera is pulling out of the Eurasian region in the wake of a three year-long scandal over its business dealings in Uzbekistan that saw it accused of funneling illicit payments to associates of Gulnara Karimova, the disgraced daughter of President Islam Karimov.\n<\/p>\n

\n The company will gradually wind down its operations in its Eurasia section, which includes the six former Soviet states of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Tajikistan, as well as Nepal, and ultimately cease them altogether, it said in a
\n
\n
\n
\n statement
\n <\/a>
\n <\/b>
\n <\/i>
\n \u00a0on September 17.\n<\/p>\n

\n The Swedish-Finnish company said it would focus instead on its telecoms business in Europe \u201cwithin the strategy of creating the new TeliaSonera.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt is our belief that it is possible to do business in Eurasia which are [sic] both profitable and sustainable \u2014 but it is important to enter markets in a correct way,\u201d it said.\n<\/p>\n

\n When TeliaSonera entered Uzbekistan\u2019s lucrative telecoms market, it allegedly used Karimova \u2014 at the time a major business player with telecommunications interests, but now under house arrest in Tashkent on corruption charges \u2014 as an intermediary.\n<\/p>\n

\n TeliaSonera\u2019s problems began three years ago, when a Swedish television station aired a report claiming the telecoms giant had made dubious payments to a shell company run by Karimova associate Gayane Avakyan in order to gain access to Uzbekistan\u2019s market. That report sparked a major corruption investigation in Sweden that is ongoing to this day. The resignation of former chief executive Lars Nyberg and the
\n
\n
\n
\n dismissal
\n <\/a>
\n <\/i>
\n <\/b>
\n \u00a0of several senior company executives ensued the following year.\n<\/p>\n

\n TeliaSonera \u2014 which is also under
\n
\n
\n
\n investigation
\n <\/a>
\n <\/i>
\n <\/b>
\n \u00a0in the United States and the Netherlands \u2014 has always denied accusations of bribery and says it has \u201czero tolerance\u201d toward corruption, but has acknowledged that due process was not always followed in Uzbekistan.\n<\/p>\n

\n Avakyan is at the center of several other corruption probes focussing on Uzbekistan\u2019s telecoms sector, including a money-laundering investigation in Switzerland in which Karimova has been
\n
\n
\n
\n named
\n <\/a>
\n <\/i>
\n <\/b>
\n \u00a0as a suspect.\n<\/p>\n

\n Another U.S. Department of Justice investigation has led to a New York court
\n
\n
\n
\n ordering
\n <\/a>
\n <\/i>
\n <\/b>
\n \u00a0the seizure of $300 million in allegedly illicit proceeds from an \u201c
\n
\n
\n
\n international conspiracy
\n <\/a>
\n <\/i>
\n <\/b>
\n .\u201d Court documents alluded to an unnamed relative of Uzbekistan\u2019s president that appeared to match Karimova\u2019s description.\n<\/p>\n

\n The litigation alleges that illicit payments were made by two other telecoms companies, Russia\u2019s MTS and Amsterdam-based VimpelCom, to curry influence and secure favorable decisions to operate in Uzbekistan\u2019s telecommunications sector.\n<\/p>\n

\n Avakyan was
\n
\n
\n
\n convicted
\n <\/a>
\n <\/i>
\n <\/b>
\n \u00a0on corruption-related charges in Uzbekistan last year and is believed to be in jail. Karimova has been
\n
\n
\n
\n named
\n <\/a>
\n <\/i>
\n <\/b>
\n \u00a0by Tashkent prosecutors as a suspect in a multi-million-dollar mafia-style corruption case, and is incommunicado and reportedly being held under
\n
\n
\n
\n house arrest
\n <\/a>
\n <\/i>
\n <\/b>
\n \u00a0in Tashkent.\n<\/p>\n

\n
\n The article was originally published by
\n
\n
\n EurasiaNet
\n <\/b>
\n <\/a>
\n <\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nordic telecoms giant TeliaSonera is pulling out of the Eurasian region in the wake of a three year-long scandal over its business dealings in Uzbekistan that saw it accused of funneling illicit payments to associates of Gulnara Karimova, the disgraced daughter of President Islam Karimov.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-211625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","infinite-scroll-item","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33","no-featured-image-padding"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTeliaSonera Leaves Eurasia After Uzbekistan Scandal - MEYDAN.TV<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/article\/teliasonera-leaves-eurasia-after-uzbekistan-scandal-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"TeliaSonera Leaves Eurasia After Uzbekistan Scandal - 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