Mr Timur Kulibaev

An article published on 31 May 2014 (“Piping Hot: How Putin Won China Gas Deal”) referred to allegations suggesting that Mr Kulibaev, a Kazakhstan businessman, was (1) a member of an organised criminal gang; (2) involved in theft of state property on a large scale and abuse of power; (3) money-laundering; and (4) accepting a US$100m bribe made by Chinese state companies.

As a result of the allegations both the Kazakh and Swiss authorities investigated the claims and found there to be no evidence of any wrong-doing. We apologise for not making this clear.

The article also claimed that Mr Kulibaev played a decisive part in negotiating a gas deal between China and the Russian gas provider, Gazprom. Mr Kulibaev has pointed out to us that, whilst he fulfilled his duties as a Gazprom Board member, he played no special role in successfully concluding the deal.