Swedish Telecom Company Ericsson was fined a total of $ 1.060.570.432 as a result of the investigations carried out by the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) in relation to Foreign Corrupt Practices Act ("FCPA").
The decision pertains to the past FCPA violations that ended in the first quarter of 2017, and it is stated that although the company has a compliance program and a supportive control framework, this program and the control framework have not been adequately implemented. It has been determined by the relevant authorities that some of the company's executives and employees behave in a way that violates FCPA. In the investigation carried out by DOJ to determine whether bribes and accounting rules in FCPA were violated, Ericsson's subsidiary in Egypt was found guilty and fined $ 520,650,432. On the other hand, in another investigation conducted by the SEC according to the aforementioned provisions under FCPA, company was fined $ 539.920.000 plus interest.
As part of the agreement reached with the relevant authorities, Ericsson has agreed to establish an independent compliance audit over a three-year period and committed to continue to undertake substantial reforms to strengthen its Ethics and Compliance program.