Ericsson to pay $206M as it pleads guilty to bribery violations in US

Ericsson, a Swedish networking and telecommunications company, agreed to pay the penalty of $206 million after pleading guilty to bribery charges in the United States. Its case is in connection with the anti-bribery provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in the country, and the U.S. prosecutors announced on Thursday, March 3, that the company decided to admit to the violation.

As per CNBC, in 2019, Ericsson already paid a $520.6 million penalty for what the New York federal prosecutors described as “yearslong campaign of corruption.” This is a violation that involves the bribing of government officials as well as the falsification of books and records in several locations, including China, Indonesia, Djibouti, Vietnam, and Kuwait.

It was reported that Ericsson also paid around $540 million to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in connection to the same case. In the 2019 case settlement, the company entered into a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.

However, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said that the company breached the agreement as it failed to truthfully disclose “all factual information and evidence” related to its schemes in both China and Djibouti. Moreover, it was alleged that it did not disclose evidence of a similar case in Iraq.

“When the department afforded Ericsson the opportunity to enter into a DPA to resolve an investigation into serious FCPA violations, the company agreed to comply with all provisions of that agreement,” DOJ’s criminal division’s Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. said in a press release. “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.”

The asst. attorney general added, “As a result of these broken promises, Ericsson must plead guilty to two criminal offenses and pay an additional fine."

Photo by: Tingey Injury Law Firm/Unsplash