By Duncan Mackay
November 12 – Alisher Usmanov, a major shareholder in Premier League club Arsenal and Russia’s richest man, today found himself at the centre of controversy after a London-based public relations firm edited his Wikipedia entry to remove information that could cast him in a bad light.
The Russian oligarch is preparing to float his MegaFon mobile phone company on the London Stock Exchange at a value of more than $12 billion (£7.5 billion/€10 billion).
An investigation in The Times found that RLM Finsbury, which is owned by Sir Martin Sorrell’s WPP group, was behind a series of deletions on Usmanov Wikipedia page.
Among the items that were removed were references to a criminal conviction that was given to Usmanov during the time of the Soviet Union.
They also removed details of a “freedom of speech” row, in which Usmanov issued threats to bloggers repeating critical comments made by a former British Ambassador who said the tycoon was a “gangster and a racketeer”.
These details were replaced by sections alluding to Usmanov’s philanthropic activities and passion for fine art.
The PR firm has since apologised for editing the Wikipedia entry and claimed that Usmanov was not aware of this tactic.
“This was not done in the proper manner nor was this approach authorised by Mr Usmanov,” said Finsbury in a statement.
“We apologise for this and it will not happen again.”
According to the 2011 edition of Forbes magazine, Usmanov has a fortune estimated at $18.1 billion (£11.4 billion/€14.2 billion), making him the world’s 28th richest person.
The 55-year-old Usmanov, a former sabre fencer who once formed part of the Uzbek Republic team, is also President of the International Fencing Federation (FIE).
In the coming weeks, MegaFon, a major telecommunications operator controlled by Usmanov, which is a Tier One sponsor of the 2014 Winter Olympics and Paralympics in Sochi, is expected to carry out one of the largest stock market listings by a Russian company in London.
Usmanov also owns Kommersant Publishing House, the official media partner of Sochi 2014.
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