Investigation that promotes human rights in Uzbekistan
After the premiere of the current affairs program in the series “Mission: Investigate” and the documentary film «TeliaSonera – the Uzbek affair” in September 2012 on the Swedish public television, the investigation of the corruption case is only beginning to gain momentum.
The film of three Swedish journalists Sven Bergmann, Fredrick Laurin and Joachim Difvermark from the SVT Göteborg shows the cooperation of the telecommunications giant TeliaSonera with the intelligence agencies not only in Uzbekistan, but also in other countries of post-Soviet bloc and shows how TeliaSonera provides full access to the telephone calls of their subscribers.\
Fredrick Lauren, who conducted the investigation with two other colleagues, did not stop there and they are now continuing their work on the case of money laundering by the Uzbek Government and human rights violations related to the company TeliaSonera.
The journalists have found out that TeliaSonera has paid $ 500 million to so-called “local Uzbek partner” LLC Takilant registered in Gibraltar, and in return received a 3G-license, frequencies, and a series of telephone numbers, which made it possible to start work in Uzbekistan. The company’s management explained that worked within the laws of Uzbekistan and they were not aware about any human rights violations.
On May 22 aired another program about who and how negotiated the affair with the foreign agents, and if Gulnara Karimova (the eldest daughter of Uzbek President Islam Karimov – Jarayon) received millions of dollars in bribes to her bank accounts. Also, a person named “Alexander”, who wished not to reveal his real name, has sent certain documents, where the handwriting of Gulnara Karimova was found and her connection with the corrupt deal.
International Human Rights Association «Fiery Hearts Club» congratulates the team of journalists Sven Bergman, Fredrik Laurin and Joachim Dyfvermark from SVT Göteborg with winning the Grand Prix for the program “TeliaSonera – The Uzbek affair”, at Prix CIRCOM 2013 Gala and also the prize in the Investigative Journalism category.
Fredrik Lauren, one of the journalists, who is at the forefront of the TeliaSonera vs Gulnara Karimova investigation, gave an exclusive interview to Jarayon.
Jarayon: What prompted you to start investigating corruption in Uzbekistan?
Fredrik Lauren: For the last 10 years I was doing stories about CIA and world terror. During that time I have learnt a lot about regime of Islam Karimov and his cooperation with the American security services plus usage of surveillance technologies. Many Western countries supply their surveillance technologies to the corrupt regimes, like Uzbekistan and ignore the situation with human rights (HR) there. So, we decided to look closer at telecommunication companies in Sweden and found out that TeliaSonera provides its services to Uzbekistan, where the government uses their technology against political opponents and human rights activists.
Jarayon: What knowledge did you have about the situation in Uzbekistan?
Fredrik Lauren: Since 2005 we knew quiet well the situation in Uzbekistan. From the reports of the international organizations we have learn that torture (boiling political opponents) or illegal arrests are common there. We have discovered that people are being harassed by having their telephone calls recorded, prosecuted in courts on a basis what they had said on the phone or had written in emails. During the research, we discovered that TeliaSonera allowed the security services of Uzbekistan full access to their networks and databases, without a court order or a search warrant. In April 2012, after our first program came out proving that TeliaSonera paid US$ 500 million to Gulnara Karimova, daughter of the Uzbek dictator Islam Karimov to get licenses, the chairman and the CEO of this company had to resign.
Jarayon: What facts did you discover while researching about Gulnara Karimova and TeliaSonera?
Fredrik Lauren: During our research into the HR abuse that TeliaSonera is part of, we of course knew that Uzbekistan is not only the worst country when coming to human rights, but it’s also one of the most corrupt in the world. Then we started looking how did Telia came into Uzbekistan and we have found a clear connection with Gulnara Karimova and her associate, 26 year old Gayane Avakyan, who at that time was a director of the off shore company registered in Gibraltar to which Telia would pay US 500 million to get the license and a possibility to operate in Uzbekistan.
The result of our investigation was the first story that came in September 2012 then the follow up story in December 2012.
Jarayon: What were your expectations while working on this film?
Fredrik Lauren: The job of our team was to present the facts and I think that the public has to react to those facts.
Jarayon: What were the challenges to collect information on Gulnara and TeliaSonera?
Fredrik Lauren: First of all, it is very difficult to get information from Uzbekistan, since we cannot go there and also it’s not very safe. Thanks to our sources and people, who helped us gather the information it was easier to work. Still, we know that doing this kind of investigation is dangerous, especially after the contract killing of people, who got asylum in Sweden.
Jarayon: What or who gave you the strength to continue doing this job and seek the truth? Is it a part of your journalistic obligation?
Fredrik Lauren: I think that part of the journalistic obligation is to promote democracy and human rights, but it’s also a part of our job.
Jarayon: Were you afraid to expose your identity?
Fredrik Lauren: We are Swedish journalists – we work in the open. We think that transparency is very important to keep as long as you can, but of course we do protect our sources and do not expose their identities.
Jarayon: After receiving the award what did you feel? Did it increase your desire to continue investigation about the other frauds of the Karimov family?
Fredrik Lauren: It isof course very flattering to receive an award like that – to be named the most important TV program in Europe in its field. Also, it is important to honor people, who could work on this issue to raise their motivation. I am primarily thinking that it’s fantastic that CIRCOM gave this award to a program that was focusing on something so important – Western countries going into dictatorships, playing with fire and risking people’s lives.
Jarayon: Do you think after the award and the large interest for this documentary there would be a stronger pressure from European politicians or governments on Uzbekistan? Will EU renew it sanctions?
Fredrik Lauren: I think the pressure is already strong. Gulnara Karimova has had some US 700 million confiscated on her Swedish and Swiss bank accounts. Also, there are two major police investigations going on at the moment, one in Sweden and one in Switzerland, involving more than ten countries around the world.
Jarayon: Dictatorship regime of Uzbekistan receives millions of euros from corrupt deals with foreign investors, who close their eyes on violations in the country. Which ways can be used to further disclose the corruption in Uzbekistan and improve the critical situation with freedom of speech and the rule of law etc.?
Fredrik Lauren: I think it’s very important to investigate and expose Western countries and western companies, who cooperate with the regime. We are putting the search light on HR issues, that the telecom companies are giving access to security service. Other journalists focus on child labor in Uzbekistan. A lot is being done and I hope it can produce better circumstances in Uzbekistan.
Jarayon: Gulnara Karimova in her blog https://gkarimova.wordpress.com/2013/03/11/48/#more-48 wrote that she is not aware of Bekzod Akhmedov or deals with TeliaSonera. Could you please comment on this?
Fredrik Lauren: I think that Gulnara is fighting an information war on Internet with her Blog and Twitter. She is claiming that she has no connection to these corrupt deals and I welcome that, we have invited her for interview for more than a year now and we would be glad to ask her some serious journalistic questions.
Jarayon: Would you be interested in doing a more detailed investigation about the property of Gulnara Karimova?
Fredrik Lauren: We do that! We have spent a lot of energy researching Gulnara and published information about her houses in Paris, St. Tropez and more…
Jarayon: This year, TeliaSonera was the main sponsor of the Eurovision Song Contest and at the same time supports dictatorship regimes in many countries? In your opinion is this not a humiliation and a bad reputation for the European Union that speaks so much about democracy and human rights?
Fredrik Lauren: To my mind, TeliaSonera has a lot of questions to answer, but they focus mainly on advertising, but not on answering those questions.
Jarayon: CEO of TeliaSonera claims that corruption or money laundering is taboo for them, and human rights is of high importance? Is in fact this is the case?
Fredrik Lauren: From our last program, which came on May 22 you can see that TeliaSonera has done nothing from the last year to change the situation in their companies or with their partners in Eurasia and they have no idea how to stop this.
Jarayon: But are they willing to stop this cooperation? What should they do?
Fredrik Lauren: It is not so hard to stop. If they want to make money in Uzbekistan they have to make concrete decisions and play according to the rules of the UN Charter for Human Rights and accepted standards of democracies. Of course, it’s important to help the police during the crime investigation, but the police should have the proper documents regarding each particular case, but not the full access to the whole telecom system, in order to prosecute political opponents.
In Western democracies, for example France, Sweden or Great Britain the police will have to go to a judge and say that they want to listen to a specific phone conversation – it should not be accepted in Uzbekistan to have full access to the entire network, without restrictions. As long as TeliaSonera is a part of this they have to answer those questions.
I think TeliaSonera has to find ways and say ‘no’ to the President Islam Karimov. They should realize that it is unacceptable to be a part of harassment of political opposition, journalist or human rights activist.
Maryna Lebedeva
More about TeliaSonera:
1. http://www.fergananews.com/teliasonera
3. http://www.rferl.org/search/search.aspx?k=teliasonera&p=2#article
4. http://www.jarayon.com/ru/index.php/component/k2/item/53-teliasonera
5. http://www.icij.org/resources/if-money-was-your-object-when-you-went-journal
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