Complaints and the progress of cases in the courts of different countries after reports of corporate bribery of government officials to win trade agreements are increasingly common.
Corporate bribery practices involve offering government officials, both locally and nationally, cash and other benefits in exchange for lucrative contracts and other favors.
In the telecommunications sector, what is sought is to win contracts for the deployment of cell phone networks by providing benefits to government officials in some of the countries in which the firms plan to have a presence.
The amounts that are handled are enormous. According to a report from Transparency Internationalthe total global “cost” of bribery worldwide is estimated to be between $1 and $2 trillion.
Although it may seem strange, the truth is that these practices can lead to a distortion of the market and an increase in the prices of products and services for consumers.
Ericsson and the millionaire bribes that affect the brand
The novelty of this Friday, March 3, comes from the United States and affects a Swedish company, Ericsson. The firm will pay a little more than $200 million in fines to end bribery lawsuits paid by the company for years.
The telecommunications company used outside consultants to bribe foreign government officials and manage unofficial slush funds.
According to publish CNBCEricsson agreed to pay a $206 million fine and pleaded guilty to violating anti-bribery provisions, US prosecutors said.
Ericsson had already paid fines for US$ 520 million in 2019 for a “corruption campaign that lasted a year” and that involved officials in China, Vietnam, Indonesia and Kuwait.
At the same time, the Swedish company had to pay another US$550 million to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.
According to the US Justice, Ericsson used external consultants to pay bribes using false contracts and forged invoices in order to hide what those funds were used for.
For example in ChinaEricsson paid “tens of millions of dollars” to agents and consultants to buy “things of value”, including tickets for leisure travel and entertainment, from officials in that country.
Another case was that of djiboutiwhere Ericsson was found to have paid more than $2 million in bribes to high-ranking government officials.
Ericsson CEO Borje Ekholm said in a statement that with these sanctions and plea agreements, “The matter of infractions is resolved.”
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