THE Russian tycoon who bought a large shareholding in Arsenal football club has become embroiled in a legal row over claims by a former British diplomat that he was named in top secret Foreign Office telegrams.

Craig Murray, the former British ambassador in Uzbekistan, said last week that he warned London in two telegrams that he had concerns about Alisher Usmanov, who last month bought a 14.6% stake in the Premiership club.

The Russian tycoon, said to be worth £3 billion, bought the shares for £75m from David Dein, the former Arsenal vice-chairman. The move sparked speculation that Usmanov could try to take over the club. He said at the time that he hoped to increase his share.

When his stake in Arsenal was announced 10 days ago the tycoon instructed a London law firm to warn the media to be careful when reporting the fact he had spent eight years in prison in Moscow in the 1980s “for various offences”. Usmanov insists that he was a political prisoner and his lawyers say he was “fully pardoned” after president Mikhail Gorbachev took office.

They say that all police records have been expunged and that Usmanov, therefore, does not have any criminal record and is one of Russia’s most respected businessmen.

Usmanov clearly hoped that any questions about his business past would be terminated. But the issue has been reignited by Murray, who is known for his outspoken views on Uzbekistan’s government.

Last week, Usmanov’s lawyers were forced to write to the internet service provider which hosts Murray’s website demanding that it take down a posting referring to Usmanov’s business and personal life. In a letter his lawyers said: “Murray clearly has an axe to grind. [He] has made a number of grossly defamatory and completely unsubstantiated allegations about our client in his book Murder in Samarkand and on his website.

“We have been forced to issue a takedown notice against Murray’s ISP in respect of a recent series of vicious, unsubstantiated and defamatory allegations concerning our client.

“The posting has now been successfully removed from his website as a result of legal action taken by this firm.”

Murray said he had not been approached by the lawyers. “I rather hope Usmanov’s hyperactive and expensive lawyers will sue me for libel,” he said.

“Questioning Usmanov in a British court would bring a much fairer result than anything I expect from our tainted football authorities.”

Murray said in an interview last week that in 2003 he had picked up “diplomatic intelligence” about Usmanov which led him to send two confidential telegrams to London. He said they included reference to Usmanov’s alleged financial ties to Gulnara Karimova, the glamourous daughter of Islam Karimov, the strongman president of Uzbekistan.

A divorced mother of two, the 35-year-old Karimova has an MBA from Harvard and is a martial arts black belt. She has been described as a billionaire “James Bond girl” having cashed in on a series of deals involving hundreds of millions of pounds worth of shares in gas and mobile telephone companies.

She is also said to be part of Russian president Vladimir Putin’s circle. Murray said that as a result of the financial connection with Karimova, he had been told Usmanov was influential in the decision by her father to engineer the closure of the American airbase at Karshi-Khanabad in 2005.

“I learnt it as a piece of diplomatic intelligence. I sent a secret telegram to London warning about the deal before it happened,” said Murray. He added that he dispatched a further telegram repeating his concerns.

According to Murray there was “a full discussion” at the Foreign Office about his warning. But there was no follow-up. Murray said the British embassy in Moscow reported that its officials had never heard of Usmanov.

The Foreign Office said: “We don’t comment on individuals. We don’t reveal the details of political reporting.”

Usmanov’s lawyers said he was “astonished” that these “incredible and dated allegations” would be given any credence. They added: “Murray has not produced a shred of evidence to support these wild and hysterical claims. Instead he relies on unnamed sources.”

Murray replied again that he looked forward to seeing Usmanov in a British court.

Research: Anna Mikhailova

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