Sweden's Ericsson pleads guilty to bribery, agrees to pay over $206M to US

By Ovunc Kutlu

ISTANBUL (AA) - Sweden's Ericsson agreed to plead guilty and pay a criminal penalty of more than $206 million, US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York said.

The Stockholm-based multinational networking and telecommunications firm 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 said in a statement on Thursday.

US Attorney's Office said based on the same underlying criminal conduct that gave rise to the DPA, Ericsson will plead guilty to engaging 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," US Attorney Damian Williams said in the statement.

Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. said: "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 more than $520 million in 2019 that involved bribery of government officials and falsification of records in five countries -- China, Vietnam, Indonesia, Kuwait and Djibouti, on top of a fine of $540 million to the US' Securities and Exchange Commission.

From 2000 until 2016, Ericsson used third-party agents to make bribe payments to government officials and to manage "off-the-books slush funds" in those countries, according to the statement.