TASHKENT (TCA) — Sweden’s weak anti-bribery laws have led to the acquittal of a former top executive at a Swedish telecommunications giant engaged in corrupt practices in Uzbekistan. We are republishing the following article on the issue, written by Richard Orange*, originally published by Eurasianet: A former top executive at a telecommunications giant in Sweden has been cleared of charges that he engaged in corrupt practices in Uzbekistan. It is not that Stockholm-based Telia, where Lars Nyberg was formerly chief executive, denies doling out cash sweeteners to ease its dealings in the Central Asian nation. That is something it readily admits doing. But the judge at Stockholm District Court argued that the recipient of these huge payments – the daughter of Uzbekistan’s late president – was not “amenable to bribery” as she did not formally hold a position that could advance Telia’s interests. A former lawyer for Telia, Olli Tuohimaa, and Tero Kivisaari, the company's one-time head of Eurasian operations, were also cleared by the court. The verdict, passed on February 15, is bound to be greeted with dismay by anti-graft activists who decry the ways in which Western companies and banks enable and exacerbate a chronic problem across the developing world. Nyberg resigned as head of what was then called TeliaSonera in February 2013, following a series of media exposés revealing shady dealings in Uzbekistan. Allegations aired in Swedish media at the time indicated that TeliaSonera had paid money in 2007 to an individual in the Uzbek elite to secure 3G licenses. In the wake of that resignation, Nyberg was combative, although he conceded that TeliaSonera had failed to do proper due diligence into its local Uzbek partner. Nyberg later admitted that the company he led had made payments of more than $330 million to Takilant, although he has always denied knowing that the company ultimately controlled by Gulnara Karimova, the notorious and high-profile daughter of Uzbekistan's late president. In a U.S. State Department cable composed in 2005, Karimova was described as being widely perceived in Uzbekistan as “a robber baron” with extensive involvement in the nation’s telecommunications industry. Stockholm District Court judge Tomas Zander argued, however, that the prosecutors lined up against Nyberg had failed to convincingly join the dots. "It has not been demonstrated that the alleged bribes were received by someone who belonged to that circle of people who, according to the applicable law, could be amenable to bribery," Zander’s judgement read. Cristina Bergner, Nyberg's defense lawyer, said her client was "relieved.” During the trial, Nyberg insisted he had never learned the identity of the partner in Telia’s Uzbek business, even after meeting Karimova while embarking on a tour of the company's Central Asian businesses in 2008. He said he only learned that she was the partner through an investigation aired on Swedish television in 2012. Zander told Eurasianet that the prosecution had been "vague" and had "gaps in their investigation.” Crucially, prosecutors failed to demonstrate that Karimova held "any sort of position within the telecoms...
