Farimex Drops $1.7 Billion Lawsuit Against Telenor

­Telenor has announced that the mysterious company, Farimex Products has dropped its long winded US$1.7 billion lawsuit against the company over its Russian investments. At a hearing in a Siberian court, Farimex filed a motion withdrawing its claim against Telenor East Invest and the other defendants. The court accepted that motion and issued a ruling cancelling the Omsk court's ruling and terminating all proceedings in the case.


"Farimex's withdrawal of its claim today and the cancellation of the Omsk ruling are steps in the right direction," said Jan Edvard Thygesen, Telenor Executive Vice President and the Head of Telenor's operations in Central and Eastern Europe. "This case never had any merit, and we are pleased it has been withdrawn. However, the decision of the Tyumen court is appealable. Before closing can occur there are still enforcement proceedings to be withdrawn by the bailiff."

The original case was filed by little-known British Virgin Islands-based Farimex Products, which claimed that VimpelCom suffered financial harm allegedly caused by Telenor due to delays in VimpelCom's acquisition of loss-making Ukrainian mobile operation, Ukrainian Radio Systems (URS). Farimex is a BVI shell company, which claims to hold a 0.002 per cent stake in VimpelCom and whose sole director is Dmitry Fridman.

Ending the legal dispute was a condition of the merger of VimpelCom and Kyivstar, and the related Kyivstar share exchange transaction between Telenor and Altimo announced earlier this year.