New York court files lawsuit against MTS on the case of "bribes in Uzbekistan"

The American judicial firm Rosen Law filed a class lawsuit against the PJSC Mobile TeleSystems, Interfax reports.

All investors who acquired securities of the Russian company during the period from March 19, 2014 to March 7, 2019 can join it, Rosen Law said.

The claims are related to the anti-corruption investigation of the MTS activity in Uzbekistan. As announced on March 7, the operator will pay the US authorities a total of $850 million.

Rosen Law claims that MTS concealed from investors information about the company's involvement in corruption schemes, under which bribes worth $420 million were paid, and also hid from the market the scale of possible consequences of the investigation.

US regulators conducted an anti-corruption investigation against MTS in connection with the operator’s business in Uzbekistan since 2014. According to the US authorities, MTS, VEON (formerly Vimpelcom Ltd.) and Telia used a network of dummy companies and fake consulting contracts for multimillion-dollar bribes to structures related to the family of the former president of Uzbekistan to enter the country's telecommunications market. VEON paid $795 million in fines in 2016 following an investigation, Telia Company - $965 million.

In 2016, MTS went out of business in Uzbekistan, selling to the local government 50.01% in the operator Universal Mobile Systems (UMS) for a symbolic $1. Thus, after returning to the market of Uzbekistan in 2014, MTS did not work until its final departure from the country. Earlier, MTS had already lost its Uzbek business - in 2012, the subsidiary of the operator Uzdunrobita, while the leader in the Uzbek market of communication with a subscriber base of 9.3 million people, was deprived of licenses. At the end of 2014, MTS signed an amicable agreement with the authorities on the settlement of all mutual claims. As a result, MTS received 50.01% of UMS, and the state unitary enterprise "Center for radiocommunication, radio and television broadcasting (the structure of the former State Communications Committee of Uzbekistan) - 49.99%. The joint venture operated on the infrastructure and equipment of the former subsidiary of MTS Uzdunrobita.