Ericsson the Swedish comms company has agreed to settle against a allegation of bribery, the value is in excess of $1bn.
The US Department of Justice announced this following, “admitted to a years-long campaign of corruption in five countries to solidify its grip on telecommunications business”.
Ericsson has also enter into a deferred prosecution agreement, which is connected to criminal charges brought against the company in New York.
No comment yet from Ericsson, however it is known that they were preparing for the penalty in September.
You may not have heard much in regard, despite the public handset market reducing drastically in the past few years, they still operate at an international level and maintain the handle of one of the worlds largest makers of mobile network equipment.
The penalty is payable to both the justice department for a $520mn criminal fine, and $540m to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
From the US justice department;
The statement statement explained that Ericsson had agreed to pay the penalty to “resolve the government’s investigation into violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) arising out of the Company’s scheme to make and improperly record tens of millions of dollars in improper payments around the world”.
“Through slush funds, bribes, gifts, and graft, Ericsson conducted telecom business with the guiding principle that ‘money talks’”.
The department had said that Ericsson had been operating in this corrupt scheme since the, “beginning in 2000 and continuing until 2016”.
