A legal dispute in the United Kingdom continues over a lawsuit brought by businessman Mohamed Amersi against the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). The dispute concerns publications that hint at Amersi's involvement in corruption related to telecommunications deals in Kazakhstan. The focus has been on his work with the Swedish-Finnish company TeliaSonera, which once held a stake in Kcell.
According to CentralMedia24.kz, the lawsuit was filed in October 2022. It was prompted by a BBC publication and an episode of the Panorama programme as part of the Pandora Papers project in 2021. These alleged that Amersi was involved in "dubious" deals and may have been implicated in the payment of bribes on behalf of Telia.
"In October 2022 he filed a lawsuit, claiming the BBC publications damaged his reputation. The judge confirmed that the material indeed carries a defamatory meaning: it suggests that Mohamed Amersi knew or should have known about corruption in Telia's dealings, particularly in Kazakhstan. The BBC, however, insists its claims are truthful and important for the public interest," the report states.
It has emerged that Kazakh mobile operator Kcell, of which Mohamed Amersi was an independent director, was once controlled by Telia.
In 2012, Telia was at the centre of a major scandal: the company was accused of paying bribes totalling $331 million to Gulnara Karimova, daughter of former Uzbek President Islam Karimov. Subsequently, a Swedish court acquitted Telia's management, but US authorities imposed a fine of $965 million on the company.
In court documents, the BBC states that:
- Telia's deals in Kazakhstan were of a corrupt nature;
- Mohamed Amersi was involved in these deals and, at the very least, was aware of their nature;
- he organised expensive events for members of the Kazakh elite — ranging from trips to Formula 1 to fashion shows — with the aim of building contacts;
- for consultancy on access to radio frequencies, Telia paid Amersi's entity (Emergent Telecom Ventures) $135,000, which was then transferred to Aigul Nuriyeva — an alleged intermediary in Kazakhstan.
Businesswoman Aigul Nuriyeva is linked by the media to the highest echelons of power in Kazakhstan. She appears in journalistic investigations as a key link between foreign investors and the Kazakh political elite.
According to Forbes, she owned 49% of shares in Mobile Telecom-Service (the Tele2 brand) and held stakes in Kazakhtelecom and Kazkommertsbank. In the UK, her name is mentioned in reports concerning the origin of dubious funds. Notably, Labour MP Margaret Hodge included her on a list of 30 individuals alleged to have moved money out of Kazakhstan and into the UK.
For his part, Mohamed Amersi denies any involvement in corruption and asserts that his activities were lawful and approved by Telia. According to him, organising events and meeting with partners were part of standard corporate practice.
His legal team insists that the BBC failed to provide direct evidence of his involvement in any wrongdoing, and that the wording of the allegations is vague and speculative.
For instance, the court has already excluded from the case references to Telia ceasing its cooperation with him — the judge deemed this irrelevant to the substance of the corruption allegations.
Preliminary hearings in the case took place on 22 May 2025. The judge ruled:
- to uphold part of Mohamed Amersi's request and to exclude unsubstantiated episodes from the BBC's defence;
- to allow the BBC to clarify details of the allegation, including specifics on the sums transferred to Nuriyeva;
- to order Amersi to provide more information regarding his agreements with Telia and the nature of client entertainment events in Kazakhstan.
The trial is scheduled for June 2026 and is expected to last six weeks.