Ericsson pays US$207m DoJ fine over alleged bribery in Iraq
Swedish telecommunications equipment provider Ericsson has paid a fine of US$207 million over breaches of a deferred prosecution agreement reached with the US Department of Justice in 2019, the company says.
In a statement issued on Friday, the company said it would enter a guilty plea over previously deferred charges relating to its actions prior to 2017.
Ericsson, one of the world’s big three telecommunications outfits, said the agreement with the DoJ was over violations of the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act between 2010 and 2016 in a number of countries.
Since the agreement had been struck, it had not been charged with any further FCPA violations, it said.
The agreement was reached in connection with alleged bribes paid by Ericsson to the terrorist groups Al Qaeda and Islamic State in Iraq to facilitate its business activities.
In March 2022, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists shared internal Ericsson files with a number of newspapers, including The Guardian, detailing the alleged bribery.
The leak took place just prior to the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the biggest industry event for mobile firms, and one which was being held in 2022 after a gap of two years.
Ericsson, which was made aware of the forthcoming leak, issued a public statement two weeks before the ICIJ leaked the files, admitting serious breaches of compliance in Iraq from 2011 to 2019.
Chief executive Börje Ekholm said on Friday: “Taking this step today means that the matter of the breaches is now resolved. This allows us to focus on executing our strategy while driving continued cultural change across the company with integrity at the centre of everything we do.
“This resolution is a stark reminder of the historical misconduct that led to the DPA. We have learned from that and we are on an important journey to transform our culture. To be a true industry leader, we must be a market and technology leader while also being a leader in how we conduct our business.
“The Ericsson Executive Team and I remain committed to this transformation and we continue to implement stringent controls and improved governance, ethics and compliance across our company, with corresponding enhancements to our risk management approach. The change continues and we are a very different company today and have made important changes since 2017 and over 2022.”
A DoJ spokesperson said about the agreement: “[Ericsson] has significantly enhanced its compliance program and internal accounting controls through structural and leadership changes, including but not limited to the hiring of a new chief legal officer and new head of Corporate and Government Investigations and the establishment of a multi-disciplinary Business Risk Committee comprised of Group-level senior executives … and has committed to continuing to implement and test further enhancements.
“[Ericsson] has significantly enhanced its co-operation and information sharing efforts.”
Source: itwire
