Mining giant Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation (ENRC) has gone on the offensive after its libel claim against a Financial Times journalist collapsed, suggesting that attempts to ‘mischaracterise’ its legal action are part of a ‘growing campaign of xenophobia’.
The former FTSE 100 company’s case against Tom Burgis over his 2020 book Kleptopia: How Dirty Money is Conquering the World was dismissed yesterday after a judge ruled that references to three alleged murders would not be taken by an ‘ordinary, reasonable reader’ to refer to ENRC.
Burgis said he was ‘delighted’ with the result while his solicitor Caroline Kean, a partner at Wiggin, told the Gazette that ENRC’s case was an ‘egregious form of lawfare’.
However, ENRC – which says allegations made in Kleptopia, and by Burgis in the Financial Times, are ‘completely false’ – suggested there has been ‘a growing attempt to mischaracterise our reasonable and proportionate steps to defend our reputation through the courts’.
‘We have maintained throughout that we fully support the media’s right to report fairly and objectively on matters, including on our own business,’ an ENRC spokesperson said. ‘However, in this instance, the allegations made by [Kleptopia publisher] HarperCollins, the Financial Times and Tom Burgis were of murder, something of the most serious nature, causing enormous damage to the company’s reputation.’
In an apparent reference to recent criticism of individuals and businesses linked to Russia following the invasion of Ukraine, the spokesperson added: ‘We have seen a growing campaign of xenophobia pervade aspects of the media and parliament that targets individuals and companies based on their nationality, including bizarrely ENRC, which is a UK company with Kazakh shareholders.’
