The BBC has agreed to pay “substantial” damages to the president of Ukraine over false allegations that he procured or authorised a corrupt payment to arrange talks with Donald Trump.
Petro Poroshenko took legal action over reports by the broadcaster that Michael Cohen, the US president’s former personal lawyer, received a payment of 400,000 dollars (£300,000) to extend an already arranged meeting in June 2017 into more substantial talks.
The BBC made the false claim in an article on its website and as a headline news item on the News At Ten on May 23 2018, a judge at the High Court in London heard on Thursday.
Mr Justice Julian Knowles was told that Mr Poroshenko has accepted an apology and “a substantial sum by way of compensation” from the BBC, which has agreed to pay his legal costs and publish a correction.
BBC pays damages to Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko over report https://t.co/rETJzfkeuc
— BBC North America (@BBCNorthAmerica) March 28, 2019
Mr Poroshenko’s solicitor Graham Atkins told the judge the allegation that Mr Poroshenko “procured or authorised a corrupt payment” was “seriously defamatory”.
Mr Atkins added: “Put simply, this allegation and the facts on which it purported to be based are simply false.
“Mr Poroshenko did not authorise or procure any payment to Mr Cohen of any kind, nor was any such payment ever made to Mr Cohen or any other individuals for that purpose.
“Mr Poroshenko did not instruct close associates to open up any back channel with Mr Trump in order to secure substantial talks with him, far less did he do so through Mr Cohen.”
Mr Atkins told the court Mr Poroshenko “deeply regrets that it took the BBC so long to accept liability” and to remove the article from its website, adding: “He believes that the resulting delay will inevitably have increased the damage caused to his reputation by the publication of this allegation.
“It has certainly added to the distress and embarrassment that he has felt since the story was first published.”
He said the BBC’s reports were “clearly likely to undermine the hard work undertaken by the president during his time in office, and to cause him very considerable political embarrassment not only in Ukraine, but in the United Kingdom and across the global stage”.
“In this connection it is relevant that inevitably, given the serious and sensational nature of the allegation (especially as it also related to the US president, Mr Trump), and the prominence given to it by the BBC, the allegation was picked up and republished in other media publications.”
Jane Phillips, counsel for the BBC, said: “The BBC is happy to acknowledge that these claims about the claimant are completely untrue, and it is here, through me, to apologise to the claimant for any distress and embarrassment caused to him by the article and the broadcast.”
The figure to be paid by the BBC was not disclosed in court.
A BBC spokesman said later in a statement: “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 dollars 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 more substantial talks.
“We believed that the publications made a less serious allegation against Mr Poroshenko, but in the light of a finding by the High Court that the allegation was as set out above, we are happy to accept that this allegation was untrue.
“We apologise to Mr Poroshenko for any distress caused and have agreed to pay him damages, legal costs and have participated in a joint statement in open court.”
