TeliaSonera’s CEO has resigned after an internal investigation criticised the Swedish telco’s lack of due diligence over a controversial 3G licence deal in Uzbekistan.
Although Mannheimer Swartling, a Swedish law firm, found nothing to support…
TeliaSonera’s CEO has resigned after an internal investigation criticised the Swedish telco’s lack of due diligence over a controversial 3G licence deal in Uzbekistan.
Although Mannheimer Swartling, a Swedish law firm, found nothing to support allegations that TeliaSonera committed bribery or participated in money laundering, it said more in depth analysis should have been done into the 2007 deal.
Reports have highlighted the apparent involvement of Gulnara Karimova, the controversial daughter of Uzbek president Islam Karimov, in the licence sale – which was not picked up in TeliaSonera’s due diligence at the time.
Lars Nyberg, whose contract as CEO had been due to end in December 2013, said that following the review he no longer had the full support of TeliaSonera’s board.
He said: “Even if this transaction was legal, we should not have gone ahead without learning more about the identity of our counterparty. This is something I regret.”
Nyberg’s resignation comes after TeliaSonera chairman Anders Narvinger announced plans late last year to depart the company.
The Uzbek deal is still being investigated by Swedish authorities under a separate probe. As part of this investigation, a Swedish court has reportedly frozen US$280m in assets belonging to the company that sold the 3G licence to TeliaSonera, an Uzbek group called Takilant.