(25 October 2006 2:00 pm)

MUMBAI: Global European media conglomerate Vivendi has announced that it filed a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organisations Act (Rico) complaint in federal court in the State of Washington in the US.

The charge is that T-Mobile illegally appropriated Vivendi's $2.5 billion investment in Polish mobile telecom operator Polska Telefonia Cyfrowa (PTC), through a pattern of fraud and racketeering.

Named in the complaint are T-Mobile USA, T-Mobile Deutschland, Deutsche Telekom AG and . Zygmunt Solorz-Zak, who controls another Polish company Elektrim, which is Vivendi's joint-venture partner for its investment in PTC.

According to the suit, this case involves two companies, Vivendi and T- Mobile, that have substantial business activities in the US, one of whom (T-Mobile) colluded with Mr. Solorz-Zak in a pattern of racketeering activity over US wires as part of an unlawful scheme to take over an enterprise, PTC, and corrupt another enterprise, Elektrim.

Vivendi says that it considers that T-Mobile and Mr. Solorz' Elektrim illegally appropriated its $2.5 billion investment in PTC and, at every turn, have defied court orders. By filing this Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organisations Act complaint, it is asking the court for a simple remedy - give back its money or its PTC shares.