Vimpelcom will pay $ 795 million fine in the US and the EU

This week holding company Vimpelcom Ltd. entered into an agreement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the US Justice Department and the Prosecutor’s Office of the Netherlands to resolve the investigation of transactions in Uzbekistan. During this agreement, representatives of Vimpelcom Ltd. officially acknowledged the giving of bribes to a “high-ranking relative of the President of Uzbekistan”. According to the editions of The Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times, bribes were given to the daughter of President Gulnara Karimova.

In total, the amount of bribes amounted to $ 114 million, as well as $ 0.5 million transferred to the funds affiliated with the authorities. For this bribe Vimpelcom Ltd. received the appropriate licenses in the country.
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After pleading guilty to Vimpelcom Ltd. will pay $ 795 million fine and return the income received from illegal transactions. Of these, $ 167.5 million will go to the SEC, $ 230.1 million to the US Justice Department, and $ 397.5 million to the Government of the Netherlands. Funds were reserved in Vimpelcom Ltd. accounts. even during the trial, so their payment will not be a problem for the company.

Thanks to the decision of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, it became known that MTS and Vimpelcom Ltd. from 2004 to 2011, almost $ 500 million was paid to Talikant Ltd., Swisdorn Ltd. and Expoline Ltd., with whom the authorities were associated. Sometimes bribes were issued through the allocation of shares of certain companies entering the Uzbek market with the subsequent buyout by the operator. Among other ways - the conclusion of multimillion-dollar contracts, as a result of which operators simply received the necessary assets. Also, the authorities received bribes on the basis of consulting services, which included lobbying the interests of the operator.

According to experts, MTS is more likely to get out of this situation unscathed, since none of the operator’s assets is directly related to the frauds that have been proven and are connected with Vimpelcom Ltd. But admission of guilt on the part of the latter increases the risks of MTS - now the operator may also need to reserve funds for alleged fines. Investors responded accordingly - MTS shares fell in price by 3.18%.

Against the background of fines on monopolization, the statement of the head of Vimpelcom Ltd, Mikhail Slobodin, who spoke out against the unlimited mobile Internet, looks particularly ambiguous.

The only segment that continues to grow in terms of revenue is the mobile Internet, so this segment should completely abandon unlimited tariffs, said Mikhail Slobodin to the Kommersant publication. Currently, the services of the fully unlimited Internet are not offered by any of the Big Four operators. The only exception is the operator Yota, in the network of which there are certain restrictions for Internet users.