BBC to pay 'substantial' sum for story libelling Ukrainian president - Graham Atkins Solicitor

 

News report on TV and online claimed Petro Poroshenko had bribed Donald Trump’s lawyer


The BBC has agreed to pay substantial libel damages to Ukraine’s president, Petro Poroshenko, after wrongly claiming he had been involved in making a secret $400,000 payment to Donald Trump’s lawyer in return for access to the US president. 

The original story said intermediaries acting on behalf of the Ukrainian president had paid Michael Cohen, then Trump’s lawyer, to ensure that Poroshenko received a lengthy meeting – and not just a photo opportunity – during a visit to the White House in June 2017. 

Graham Atkins Solicitor 

The BBC claimed that a representative of Poroshenko made contact with Cohen, who has since turned on Trump, through a Jewish charity in New York and paid him to maximise his time with the president. Cohen, who always denied the claims, was not registered as a representative of Ukraine as by US law he would have been required to lobby on the country’s behalf. 

Poroshenko, who is facing re-election this weekend and could lose to a comedian known for portraying a Ukrainian president in a popular TV show, sued in the English courts, saying the accusation was defamatory.

The BBC attempted to claim that its journalism made a less serious allegation than that claimed by Poroshenko’s lawyers.

However, after a judge at the high court in London sided with the Ukrainian president’s interpretation of the article, the BBC decided it could no longer defend its reporting. As a result the broadcaster agreed to pay damages and issue a correction; it must also pay the Ukrainian’s legal costs.

Poroshenko’s lawyer said he would receive a “substantial sum by way of compensation”.

A BBC spokesperson said: “In our News at Ten bulletin and in an online article published on 23 May 2018 we incorrectly reported that Petro Poroshenko, the president of the Ukraine, had procured or authorised a corrupt payment of $400,000 [about £306,000] to be made to Michael Cohen, the personal lawyer of Donald Trump, to extend a brief meeting between Mr Poroshenko and President Trump, that had already been agreed, into wider talks. Read more--->>>>>

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