LONDON, England: According to a leaked corporate report by BBC News Arabic, telecom giant Ericsson is putting entrepreneurs’ lives at risk by insisting that they continue to work in Islamic State-controlled territory [IS] group in Iraq, which resulted in them being kidnapped by IS militants.
The latest revelations follow last week’s acknowledgment by Ericsson’s CEO Borje Ekholm that money had been paid by the company to access faster transport routes in Iraq, with IS as a possible recipient.
More than $ 5 billion was deleted from Ericsson’s market value after Ekholm’s comments.
The document from 2019, obtained by the International Consortium of International Journalists [ICIJ] and shared with the BBC and 29 other media partners, is an internal investigation into corrupt activities and bribes in 10 countries alleged to have been committed by Ericsson, with the most serious findings centered on its operations in Iraq.
The report found that in June 2014, when IS seized Iraq’s second city, Mosul, a senior Ericsson lawyer recommended closing down the company’s operations in Iraq, but senior executives ignored this, as they considered such a move “too early” and would “destroy” Ericsson’s operations in the country.
Ericsson’s insistence that its entrepreneurs continue to work in IS-held territory put lives at risk, as the militant group then took a number of entrepreneurs hostage, the report added.
This was not Ericsson’s only possible interaction with IS. The company’s transport contractors used a route through the country, called “Speedway”, which avoided state checkpoints but passed through IS territory, Ericsson’s investigators found, adding that they discovered evidence of probable payments to militants along this route.
The internal Ericsson document reveals a widespread culture of corrupt activities and the payment of bribes totaling millions of dollars in 10 separate countries, including a slush fund for Lebanese officials for a number of years totaling almost 1 million dollars, as well as gifts, such as a luxury of 50 000 dollars. trip to Stockholm for Boutros Harb, former Lebanese telecommunications minister.
In 2019, Ericsson reached a $ 1 billion deal with US authorities following allegations of widespread corruption in five countries. Ericsson has not clarified whether the new revelations were revealed to the US Department of Justice at the time of the settlement.
Source: sn.dk