Jul 31, 2009

The Delightful Pleasures of British Libel Laws


Looks like British citizens can still call the Russian government "corrupt" in public, they just have to ride out the lawsuit.

The Economist Magazine’s Central and Eastern Europe correspondent Edward Lucas hasn't commented on the case. However, other peopel's reporting shows that reclusive oil billionaire Gennady Timchenko (pictured) has settled his claim against The Economist for a November 2008 article titled, “Grease my palm.” (You can read the libelous insult here.)

Some other reporting on the case:

“Speaking in March, [Timchenko] aides said the oil tycoon was determined to go ahead with the case and had 'nothing to hide'...Timchenko's decision to sue in Britain could have forced him to reveal potentially embarrassing details of his private bank accounts and the ownership and asset structure of his Swiss-based oil trading company, Gunvor.”
Oops.

It was sometime around this point that Timchenko figured he’d better keep the issue out of court. "He thought he was suing some tabloid. He didn't realize he was suing the British establishment," said a source.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

libel, not liable... unless there's a pun I'm missing

Pirates(and)Diplomats said...

/gasp!

Edward Lucas said...

Edward Lucas here
Just to be clear: that was not my comment about the case. I was circulating some news reports. The Economist has made no comment on the result.

Cheers
E

Pirates(and)Diplomats said...

Glad to clear that up. We want to be clear on the facts.