An Arbitration Tribunal in Zurich has ruled that Russian Information Technology and Communications Minister Leonid Reiman laundered money in an attempt to buy a 25 per cent stake in third placed Russian cellco MegaFon.

According to a report on Dow Jones newswire, Reiman was the only beneficiary of a 25 per cent stake option in MegaFon held by Bermuda-based company IPOC International Growth Fund.

The dispute began in 2003, when Russian conglomerate Alfa Group, now known as Altimo, bought an investment company called LV Finance along with a 25 per cent holding in MegaFon.

But because Alfa is also a majority shareholder in Russia’s second placed cellco, VimpelCom, IPOC, which owns 5 per cent of MegaFon, claimed Alfa’s move violated an option agreement it had with LV as well as MegaFon’s shareholder agreement.

IPOC then claimed it had already made payments towards the option of acquiring the 25 per cent stake in MegaFon, around the same times as Alfa’s acquisition of LV.

A drawn out tussle in the courtroom has finally revealed that Reiman, and not Danish lawyer Jeffrey Galmond, as previously disclosed, is the main owner in IPOC’s businesses.

According to the report, LV alleges that the ruling shows that Reiman was in breach of his official responsibilities and claims the Tribunal found that the money used by IPOC to make the payments on the option had been criminally sourced.

The long standing dispute between Nordic operator Telenor and Russian conglomerate Altimo (Alfa) could soon be at an end.

The two companies have reportedly agreed that VimpelCom, Russia’s second biggest cellco, could use a mixture of cash and equity to acquire leading Ukrainian operator, Kyivstar.

The two companies have been at loggerheads since Altimo encouraged VimpelCom to acquire another cellco, Ukrainian Radio Systems (URS) in November last year. Telenor maintains URS is a bad investment and causes the Nordic operator a conflict of interest.

Telenor owns 29.9 per cent of VimpelCom and 56.5 per cent of Kyivstar while Altimo owns 32.9 per cent of VimpelCom and 43.5 per cent of Kyivstar.

VimpelCom could spend as much as $5bn on the acquisition of Kyivstar. In February, Altimo proposed the Russian operator make the purchase for $5bn (ВЈ2.67bn) of VimpelCom’s own shares, but Telenor rejected the proposal, instead favouring an all cash bid.

The two companies now appear to be close to reaching a compromise on the structure of the purchase.

However, Telenor also wants a mechanism to be created whereby one of the two VimpelCom shareholders can buy out the other.

Discussions about the terms of the “market separation mechanism” are understood to be continuing.

Alcatel (Paris: CGEP.PA and NYSE: ALA) has successfully demonstrated HDSPA services for VimpelCom (NYSE: VIP), a leading international provider of telecommunications services operating under the “Beeline” brand in Russia and Kazakhstan. The demonstration took place in Alcatel Moscow’s 3G Reality Centre where the speed of 3.2 Mb/s through air interface was achieved.

The HSDPA demonstration consisted of wireless data calls including streaming video and using HSDPA 3.6 Mb/s Data Card from Alcatel’s partner, Option. Alcatel’s current HSDPA solution supports all terminal categories defined by the 3GPP standard, notably Categories 8 and 10 (7.2 Mb/s and 14.4 Mb/s) from day one, with no need for modification to the network.

The HSDPA demo relies on Alcatel’ s multi-standard EvoliumВ® radio solutions, designed to adapt to the constant evolution of cellular networks, enabling seamless coexistence of GSM/EDGE and 3G capabilities in the same radio equipment. Furthermore, thanks to its built-in software modularity, the solution will subsequently allow a smooth software-based introduction of HSDPA/HSUPA when the local market requires these functionalities, thus enabling a future-safe and cost-effective path for the operator.

“This demonstration at the 3GRC confirms Alcatel’s strategy based on multi-standard evolutionary solutions, which natively integrate the entire family of GSM/UMTS radio technologies into one platform,” said Patrick Plas, Vice-president of Alcatel’s mobile communication activities in Central & Eastern Europe. ” This illustrates Alcatel’s commitment to bringing to market an end-to-end solution for fully fledged HSDPA-enhanced services. Alcatel has on-going HSDPA-based projects in Europe and is supporting operators in Russia to successfully introduce this technology as part of its user-centric universal broadband access strategy.”