"BULLYING" BILLIONAIRE GAGS BORIS AND BOB

21-09-2007

London Mayoral candidate Boris Johnson and Sandwell Councillor Bob Piper have both been gagged in an internet row triggered by the Russian billionaire who has just bought a large stake in Arsenal Football Club.

Uzbekistan-born Alisher Usmanov has made a fortune through his Gazzmetal steel company and also has mining interests.

He's now a Russian citizen and is ranked as the country's 18th richest man. In August, one of his companies paid £75 million for a 14% stake in the Gunners and earlier this month he upped that to 21%.

His wealth hasn't protected him from criticism though, and a former British ambassador to Uzbekistan Craig Murray has printed serious allegations about him on his website.

When Usmanov threatened a libel action, The Stirrer understands that Murray replied by supplying the address of his solicitor Schillings and said that he'd welcome the opportunity to discuss the issues in court.

Rather than accepting the challenge, Usmanov then threatened the offending site's server - and they immediately withdrew all of the sites run by Murray's web host, a Brummie now living in Barnsley called Clive Summerfield.

As a result, all kinds of political sites hosted have been taken off air including those run by Boris Johnson and fearless Sandwell councillor Bob Piper, who told us: "I think it's bullying. It would be like somebody closing down a printers because one newspaper printed something potentially libellous".

Piper is now waiting to find out if and when he'll be back on line, as Russian style free speech hits the British web.

No doubt the Premier League are busy investigating whether Usmanov meets their "fit and proper person" standard for club directors.

In the meantime, Murray has found another web host with a server based in the States where they don't take too kindly to this kind of pressure - and has republished his allegations there.

Read more about this story on Podnosh click here