Altimo sender åpent brev til styret i Telenor

Andrei Kosogov, styreformann i Altimo, har i dag sendt et åpent brev til Harald Norvik, styreformann i Telenor. En kopi av brevet følger nedenfor.

Harald Norvik
Chairman of the Board
Telenor ASA

12 November 2008

Dear Mr Norvik,

I am writing to you on behalf of the Board of Directors of Altimo to raise a matter of the utmost seriousness. We trust that it will be given your immediate attention and that of your fellow board members.

Altimo shared this concern with Mr. Baksaas, CEO of Telenor, in early October. However, so far we have had no answer from him, which leaves me no choice but to turn to your attention publicly.

I am troubled to report to you that a wide range of documentary evidence has recently come to our attention which suggests there has been questionable activity directed at Altimo and the members of its International Advisory Board consisting of prominent political and business leaders .

- Altimo's confidential email and telephone communications look to have been intercepted;
- Confidential information about Altimo and its shareholders appears to have been obtained in a questionable manner from non-public State sources;
- Surveillance companies seem to have been employed to monitor Altimo’s management and shareholders;
- A network of legal firms and public affairs agencies in Russia and the UK appear to have undertaken black PR campaigns in the media to try to discredit Altimo, its parent company Alfa Group, and its shareholders involving methods such as payments to journalists and newspapers for the publication of information; and
- There appear to have been attempts designed to disrupt the activities of the International Advisory Board of Altimo.

As Chairman of the Board of Altimo, I feel I must express our deepest concern about these matters. We take these issues very seriously, as does our International Advisory Board who addressed the same concerns in a special letter to the Board of Directors and the Corporate Assembly Members of your company today.

Some of the evidence seems very serious and we are reluctant to believe that the activities mentioned there would have been sanctioned by you or your colleagues as members of a reputable publicly traded company with a substantial Norwegian government shareholding. We therefore ask that you urgently investigate into these matters, respond to our company and explain what Telenor’s role in the above has been, precisely what activity your agents have directed at Altimo and its International Advisory Board. We would welcome your reassurance that Telenor’s future dealings with Altimo will be conducted within a legal and ethical framework, in accordance with the standards to which we have understood you to be committed.

Yours sincerely


Andrei Kosogov
Chairman of the Board
Altimo

-----
(The International Advisory Board of Altimo consists of: Sir Francis Richards (Chairman), Lord Hurd, Kurt Hellström, Sir Julian Horn-Smith, Jack Rosen, and Peter Watson.)
-----