Authorities in the US have asked their European counterparts to seize about $1bn in assets related to a wide-ranging criminal probe of alleged corruption by three global telecom companies and intermediaries close to Gulnara Karimova, daughter of Uzbekistan’s president, according reports in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal.
US prosecutors believe that the Amsterdam-based Vimpelcom, Russia’s Mobile TeleSystems and Sweden’s TeliaSonera have funneled hundreds of millions of dollars to businesses controlled by Gulnara Karimova, the elder daughter of Uzbek President Islam Karimov, in an effort to secure wireless frequencies and other deals in her native country.
Last year, the three companies disclosed last year they were the focus of investigations by the Justice Department and the SEC in connection to their operations in Uzbekistan. At the time, they declined to comment on the corruption accusations, saying only that they were cooperating.
US asks EU to freeze telecoms assets of Gulnara Karimova
Source: wsj