ENRC drops lawsuit against FT and journalist Tom Burgis

A Kazakh mining group has dropped a libel claim against the Financial Times and one of its journalists over a book detailing the influx of “dirty money” into the west’s financial system.

Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation (ENRC) had brought legal action in London’s High Court against the FT and Tom Burgis over two articles and other publications, following research he undertook regarding his book Kleptopia: How Dirty Money is Conquering the World.  

The decision by the claimant corporation, ENRC Ltd, to drop the lawsuit follows a separate decision by a High Court judge earlier this month to throw out a libel action brought by the group against Burgis and HarperCollins, the publisher of his book.

In the HarperCollins lawsuit, the company had claimed the book suggested it had three people “murdered to protect its business interests”. ENRC alleged it contained defamatory material about the deaths of two former employees of its African arm in 2015 and the death of André Bekker, a geologist found in a burnt-out car in South Africa in 2016, as well as a suspected poisoning.

However, earlier this month Mr Justice Matthew Nicklin dismissed the entire libel lawsuit on the grounds that only individuals rather than companies were capable of carrying out criminal acts such as murder.

“Only individuals can carry out acts of murder or poisoning and only individuals are motivated to do so to protect their business interests,” the judge ruled, adding that the book had made no such allegations against any corporations.

The libel cases against Burgis have been closely watched as they raise broader questions about the use of England’s strict libel laws by the rich and powerful to sue journalists personally, as well as their publishers.

MPs have been concerned that libel actions brought by powerful companies or wealthy oligarchs, so-called strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs), are having a chilling effect on free speech and journalism.

Last year, Roman Abramovich, who bought Chelsea Football Club and was last week added to the UK government sanctions list, settled a high profile libel lawsuit brought against HarperCollins over a book published last year, Putin’s People, about the rise to power of Russia’s president Vladimir Putin.

Abramovich had sued the publisher along with author Catherine Belton, a former FT journalist, after claiming the book contained “false and defamatory” statements about him.

Dominic Raab, deputy prime minister and justice secretary, said earlier this month that he was considering launching a consultation aimed at strengthening free speech.

He told BBC Breakfast: “We’ve seen oligarchs and technocrats and those with links to Putin coming into this country and suing under our libel laws those who are shining a light, whether it’s authors or NGOs . . . on corruption and abuse and that is an abuse of our system. I’m going to be putting forward proposals to deal with that and to prevent that.”

Burgis, Belton and Arabella Pike, publishing director of Burgis’s book, are all testifying to the parliamentary foreign affairs committee of MPs on Tuesday about the impact of SLAPPs on the media’s ability to report on sources of dirty money.

ENRC confirmed in a statement that it had discontinued proceedings against the FT and Burgis. It said: “We continue to dispute many allegations contained within the book, including corruption, in the strongest possible terms.”

Roula Khalaf, FT editor, said: “I’m pleased to hear of ENRC’s decision to withdraw a claim that was always without merit and had put Tom Burgis under enormous strain. The FT and all our reporters, including Tom, will continue to investigate the activities of businesses and individuals, however powerful or wealthy.”

Burgis said: “It’s harder to imagine a higher public interest than reporting on the deaths of potential witnesses in a major criminal corruption case. I’m delighted that this attack on our journalism has failed.”