Alisher Usmanov secures an apology from the Mail on Sunday
13 March 2008
Download a PDF of the Statement in Open Court
Associated Newspapers, the publishers of The Daily Mail and the Mail on Sunday have today agreed to apologise to our client Alisher Usmanov over a false allegation they published last year in the Mail on Sunday.
On 2 December 2007, the Mail on Sunday published an article, written by Patrick Collins entitled "The corruption of football is no laughing matter, Harry". The article's natural and ordinary meaning was that there might have been reasonable grounds to suspect Mr Usmanov of being guilty both of rape and of involvement in the killing of a Russian journalist despite Mr Usmanov's earlier public denials to the UK press of rape and involvement in the death of the journalist.
In an effort to apologise for the distress and embarrassment caused by the allegations which the Mail on Sunday now acknowledge were false and without any foundation they have agreed to publish an apology in the Mail on Sunday.
Alisher Usmanov’s firm of solicitors, Schillings, commented; “As a mark of regret, and in an effort to address the international effort of the libel allegation made about our client Associated Newspapers, the publishers of the Mail on Sunday, have agreed to unequivocally apologise for the false allegation made about our client Alisher Usmanov. The public apology which will appear in the Mail on Sunday on 16 March 2008 will assist in providing vindication of our client and go someway to mend the damage the false allegation made to his reputation”.
For further information please contact the following lawyers for Alisher Usmanov: