Court hands down judgment in claim brought by Jusan Technologies Limited against Telegraph Media Group and OpenDemocracy
In a judgment handed down today following a trial of preliminary issues, Johnson J provided rulings on the meanings conveyed by articles published in The Telegraph and on the openDemocracy website about UK company Jusan Technologies Ltd.
The openDemocracy article was published on 21 January 2022 under the headline “Kazakhstan’s former president linked to $7.8bn in assets in UK company”.
The Telegraph article was published online on 17 February 2022 under the headline “Former Kazakh dictator controlled £6bn empire from Britain”, and in the print edition of that day under a similar headline.
Johnson J rejected submissions by the publishers that the articles conveyed merely that JTL was an unwitting and passive receptacle for Mr Nazarbayev’s funds, which (as was common ground between the parties) were alleged to have been corruptly acquired. As to the Telegraph article, he held that it suggested that, up until the end of 2021, JTL was simply an extension of Mr Nazarbayev himself, and was positively involved in hiding his assets. As to the openDemocracy article, he held that the article suggested that there were strong grounds to believe complicity on the part of JTL in hiding Mr Nazarbayev’s assets, a meaning at Chase level 2, rejecting the case that the article bore a higher level of meaning.
The Judge held that the meanings of both articles were statements of fact, not opinion.
5RB’s Justin Rushbrooke KC and Gervase de Wilde acted for the Claimant, instructed by Boies Schiller Flexner (UK) LLP.
Aidan Eardley KC acted for TMGL Ltd, instructed by Wiggin LLP.
Adam Wolanski KC and David Hirst acted for openDemocracy Ltd, instructed by Wiggin LLP.