Sonera is part of the TeliaSonera conglomerate, which is majority owned by the Swedish and Finnish states. On Wednesday the company announced that two of its Dutch holding companies were being investigated for links to bribery and money laundering in Uzbekistan, where they have operations.
TeliaSonera said that Dutch authorities carried out searches at the companies’ premises on Tuesday to obtain access to documents, and that it “is cooperating fully with the Dutch authorities”.
Switzerland's attorney general said the probe was related to the country's telecommunications market, focusing on the flamboyant figure of Gulnara Karimova, eldest daughter of the Central Asian state’s 75-year-old autocratic leader Islam Karimov.
Karimova, 41, who describes herself on her website as a "poet, mezzo soprano, designer and exotic Uzbekistan beauty," had diplomatic immunity as Uzbekistan's permanent representative to the United Nations in Geneva.
Swedish prosecutors also have been looking into the link to the Uzbek telecommunications market. Swiss newspaper Le Temps reports that Swiss authorities have seized 500 million Swiss francs linked to TeliaSonera.
TeliaSonera CEO stepped down amid allegations
Last year, Swedish media reported suspicions that TeliaSonera might have been involved in bribery and money laundering since signing a 2.3 billion kronor deal with Uzbek firm Takilant, which had ties to Karimova.
Since 2012, Swedish prosecutors have been investigating suspicions that TeliaSonera overpaid massively for a 3G mobile phone license in what is thought to have been a thinly disguised bribe.
Former TeliaSonera CEO Lars Nyberg resigned just over a year ago – on the same day that allegations of the company’s involvement in Uzbek corruption were published.
Also this week, a TeliaSonera subsidiary lost a court ruling in the neighbouring country of Kazakhstan over alleged violation of anti-monopoly laws.
The Finnish government owns13.2 percent of TeliaSonera stock, while Sweden owns 37 percent.
