TeliaSonera bosses probed over Uzbek corruption claims [Times of Oman]

Uzbekistan: Nordic telecom operator TeliaSonera said on Wednesday that two senior managers were being investigated by the Swedish prosecutor's office for corruption in Uzbekistan."Two people in managerial positions are suspected of corruption, but I can't go into details," a company spokeswoman, Kristina Hunter Nilsson, said.The investigation of the two employees was first revealed in a TV documentary to be broadcast on Wednesday on public broadcaster SVT.The Swedish prosecution authority launched its corruption probe into TeliaSonera's licence acquisition in Uzbekistan in September.It followed claims by SVT that the group had paid 2.2 billion kronor (259 million euros or $332 million) in 2007 to Takilant Limited, a company owned by Gayane Avakyan, a 22 year-old friend of President Islam Karimov's daughter, to obtain a 3G license and a 26 percent share in mobile operator Ucell.The senior managers being investigated, whose identities were not reveled, played a central role in setting up TeliaSonera's operations in Uzbekistan."We remain convinced that the accusations are unfounded and that the investigation will bear this out," Hunter Nilsson said.The investigation is being handled by the anti-corruption unit of the Swedish prosecutor's office, and is headed by senior prosecutor Gunnar Stetler, who declined to comment when contacted by AFP.TeliaSonera has hired a law firm to perform its own investigation into the matter.Corruption is punishable by up to six years in prison in Sweden.