"A sad chapter" in Ericsson's history. This is how CEO Börje Ekholm describes the corruption charges directed at the telecom giant from US authorities. In total, Ericsson allocates SEK 12 billion to pay the bill.

Exactly what allegations are being made against Ericsson in the US corruption investigation is unclear, but according to a press release, it concerns suspected violations of the company's code of conduct in six countries: China, Indonesia, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Djibouti.

100 million to intermediary

Daniel Öhman, reviewing reporter at Ekot, has together with his colleague Bo-Göran Bodin made several revelations about suspected bribery linked to Ericsson.

- Looking back in time, Ericsson had a secret cash register that was used to pay out money to their agents around the world. What we have revealed over the years is that they have used this money for suspected bribes to power holders in several countries, says Daniel Öhman.

One case is that Ericsson should have paid SEK 100 million to an intermediary that would help them win an order worth billions on a military radar system. Several former executives at the telecom giant are facing criminal charges after the disclosure.

- I would guess that the US authorities are waiting to include it in their investigation until a verdict comes, says Daniel Öhman.

"Sandwich table" of documents

He describes it as having access to "a sandwich table" of documents with suspicious transactions linked to Ericsson during the review. They chose a number of cases with which they proceeded.

"We could see, among other things, that SEK 12 million had been paid to the telecommunications minister in Oman and that millions had been paid to a company that was reportedly controlled by Costa Rica's then president," says Daniel Öhman.

Ericsson has fired around 50 people because of the corruption suspicions, according to management.

- You can say that they acknowledge that there has been a widespread corruption culture within Ericsson and that they have not had systems in place to detect it, says Daniel Öhman.

In connection with media reporting in 2016, Ericsson commented on information about suspected bribes linked to the company.

"We look seriously at information about corruption in relation to our operations, but we do not recognize ourselves in allegations of a widespread bribery culture," they wrote in a press release.