TBIJ beats two-year ‘SLAPP’ lawsuit

The Bureau of Investigative Journalism has overcome a two-year libel suit from a multibillion dollar company formerly linked to Kazakhstan’s ruling elite after the claim was dropped in June.

The company, Jusan Technologies, sued TBIJ in August 2022 over an article titled “Kazakh ex-dictator used UK company to help protect his $8 billion business empire”, which remains online.

The article focused on associates of the former president and dictator of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, and revealed that assets worth $7.8bn had been held in a complex group structure via a UK company. Ownership of the company was transferred to a US non-profit in 2021.

In its lawsuit, Jusan claimed that TBIJ’s article had defamed the company by accusing it of acting as a corrupt vehicle through which Nazarbayev exercised control over his sprawling international business empire. TBIJ contested that interpretation.

The two sides agreed to settle the claim in June, including payment of some costs, the details of which are confidential.

“The case has been dropped and our article is still up,” Rozina Breen, TBIJ’s CEO and editor-in-chief, said. “I’m delighted that we fought this case and stood behind our article, with the courage and conviction of our journalism. It’s what the Bureau does best – reporting in the public interest, without fear or favour. We remain committed to public interest journalism and will continue to hold the rich and powerful to account.”

Observers described the Jusan case against TBIJ as a SLAPP, or strategic lawsuit against public participation, a term used to describe aggressive legal threats and actions aimed at stifling scrutiny. Both the Coalition Against SLAPPs in Europe, which reviewed the case, and the former cabinet minister David Davis said the action was a SLAPP.

“With every letter and every stage of legal action, organisations like the Bureau of Investigative Journalism must divert resources and attention away from public interest reporting and towards defending themselves against bogus or trivial claims,” Davis told Parliament in October 2022.

After the article had been published, Jusan Technologies sent TBIJ a letter from the Kazakh authorities that said an investigation had found the company was neither linked to Nazarbayev nor involved in any misappropriation of public funds. Jusan Technologies also repeatedly challenged the description of the case as a SLAPP.

The case also revealed that Lord Evans of Watford, a Labour peer, was being paid as a director of Jusan to assist with the High Court case, although his hourly earnings were kept private by the court. In its initial claim, Jusan also asked for £720,000 it said it had to pay a company owned by the US corporate investigator and businessman Ron Wahid for public relations work.