© Reuters. File photo: A picture of a flag with the Ericsson logo outside Ericsson’s headquarters in Stockholm, Sweden, October 4, 2016. TT NEWS AGENCY/Maja Suslin via REUTERS/File Photo
[Reuters]- Sweden’s Ericsson (BS:) has been charged with violating a 2019 deal with U.S. prosecutors for failing to properly disclose information about its activities in Iraq, China and Djibouti. He agreed to pay $10,000 and plead guilty, the U.S. Department of Justice said Thursday. .
The plea deal follows a scandal involving payments that telecommunications companies may have made to IS militant groups through their operations in Iraq.
The Justice Department said after signing a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) in 2019 to settle long-standing corruption allegations in China, Vietnam and Djibouti, the telecommunications company failed to disclose its activities. said.
Under the DPA, the DOJ found that Ericsson paid more than $1 billion in fines and other costs, implemented “strong internal controls,” complied with U.S. law, and cooperated fully with ongoing investigations. had agreed to suspend the prosecution of Ericsson for three years.
“Ericsson violated the DPA by violating the co-operation and disclosure provisions of the agreement,” the Justice Department said in a statement.
The company had to provide a trial period through June 2024 and agreed to a one-year extension of independent compliance oversight, the department added.
Ericsson has so far paid criminal penalties totaling more than $520 million and agreed to impose three years of independent compliance oversight, the Justice Department said Thursday, referring to the 2019 settlement.
Ericsson said in a statement that the plea bargain would end the deal, which was delayed in 2019.
Ericsson CEO Borje Ekholm said:
Ericsson said last year that an internal investigation in 2019 identified payments aimed at evading Iraqi customs at a time when extremist groups, including Islamic State, controlled some routes. made it