Swedish telecommunications tools supplier Ericsson agreed to pay over $206 million to the U.S. in a bribery investigation on Thursday.
The Stockholm-based multinational networking and telecommunications agency breached a Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA) that it had entered with the Office in 2019 “by violating the agreement’s cooperation and disclosure provisions,” it mentioned in a press release on Thursday.
U.S. Attorney’s Office mentioned primarily based on the identical underlying prison conduct that gave rise to the DPA, Ericsson will plead responsible to participating in a long-running scheme to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act “by paying bribes, falsifying books and records, and failing to implement reasonable internal accounting controls in multiple countries around the world.”
“The company’s breach of its obligations under the DPA indicate that Ericsson did not learn its lesson, and it is now facing a steep price for its continued missteps,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams mentioned within the assertion.
Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. mentioned: “Instead of honoring that commitment, Ericsson repeatedly failed to fully cooperate and failed to disclose evidence and allegations of misconduct in breach of the agreement. As a result of these broken promises, Ericsson must plead guilty to two criminal offenses and pay an additional fine.”
Ericsson had paid a penalty of greater than $520 million in 2019 that concerned bribery of presidency officers and falsification of information in 5 nations – China, Vietnam, Indonesia, Kuwait and Djibouti, on prime of a nice of $540 million to the U.S.’ Securities and Exchange Commission.
From 2000 till 2016, Ericsson used third-party brokers to make bribe funds to authorities officers and to handle “off-the-books slush funds” in these nations, in keeping with the assertion.
Source: www.dailysabah.com
