American justice accuses the Swedish telecommunications giant to have not sufficiently informed of the results of its internal investigation on its branch in Iraq, revealed Sunday, February 27 by “[Nute]” and its partners.
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This is a new judicial front that opens for Ericsson. The Department of American Justice (Doj) accuses the Swedish group of having not fully informed it about the excesses observed within its Iraqi branch, recognizes the equipment manufacturer in A statement released Wednesday 2 March .
This question is a direct consequence of the “The Ericsson List” survey, published by Le Monde and its partners of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (herej) Sunday, February 27th. We revealed the facts of corruption and bad practices of Ericsson in a dozen countries. In particular in Iraq, where Ericsson is suspected of bribes, diversion of funds, complacency jobs, but also indirect financing of the Islamic state group.
This information is based in particular on an internal report to the Swedish group, transmitted by an anonymous source to ICIJ, which details the entrants to the law and the ethics committed in its Iraqi branch. The document is dated December 12, 2019, but its content remained secret until our investigation.
Breachs in the agreement passed with American justice in 2019
A few days earlier, December 6, 2019, Ericsson passed an agreement with the DoJ as part of a previous corruption scandal in five other countries, for facts that go back to the period 2000-2016. The telecommunications equipment manufacturer has, as such, paid more than $ 1 billion (about 900 million euros) in exchange for the prosecution freezing.
But This chord s Assorts a commitment of transparency from the company vis-à-vis the US authorities. In particular, it must transmit quickly “any evidence or allegation as well as any internal or external investigation whose company is aware”.
The doj informed Ericsson the March, in the light of the investigation “The Ericsson List”, which he had been “insufficiently” informed of the conclusions of the internal investigations in Iraq before the conclusion of the agreement, according to the Swedish multinational. This lack of information would have been further sued after the signing of the agreement, according to the US authorities. The telecom giant ensures, for its part, cooperate with the doj to solve this situation and asserts that “at this stage it is premature to predict the outcome of this file”.
This new disappointment poses the issue of possible judicial suites for Ericsson. American justice had already
Ericsson Iraqi torments already have financial consequences for the company. Wednesday, March 2 at 10:30 am Ericsson’s shares traded around 75 Swedish crowns on the Stockholm Stock Exchange, down more than 10% compared to the day before, and more than 30% since the beginning of the scandal.
Contacted by Le Monde, Ericsson did not wish to answer our questions.