Sweden closes investigation into suspected Ericsson bribery in China
OSLO, Nov 14 (Reuters) – Prosecutors said on Monday it had closed an investigation into suspected bribery payments made in China by employees of telecoms equipment maker Ericsson (ERICb.ST) because there was no evidence that a crime had been committed.
Ericsson declined to comment on the case.
The Swedish company previously admitted to participating in bribes in Djibouti, China, Vietnam, Indonesia and Kuwait from 2000 to 2016 in a $1 billion corruption settlement with the US Department of Justice.
Swedish prosecutors have since investigated whether any Ericsson employee can be prosecuted in Sweden for bribes in Djibouti, Kuwait, Iraq and China. They have previously dropped the investigations related to Kuwait and Iraq.
Prosecutors have appealed a decision by a Swedish court this year to acquit former Ericsson executives of bribery charges in Djibouti.
“This is the China part of the investigations. I have now closed the Kuwait, Iraq and China investigations,” said prosecutor Leif Gorts.
In a statement on Monday, the prosecutor’s office said: “While payments of several hundred million Swedish kronor, equivalent to tens of millions of dollars, were made over a period up to 2016, it was not clear that these were made in poor condition. believe.”
Reporting by Terje Solsvik, Marie Mannes and Supantha Mukherjee Editing by Anna Ringström and David Goodman
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