A press release about the two-year-old investigation, which was thus carried out in 2019, went out on Tuesday evening, following "detailed media inquiries from Swedish and international news media", writes Ericsson.
"As a result of the investigation, several employees were forced to leave the company and several additional disciplinary and further corrective measures were taken," according to Ericsson.
The investigation found support for corruption-related misconduct, according to the press release.
These included “monetary donation without a clear recipient;
payment to a supplier for work without a defined scope and without documentation;
use of suppliers to make cash payments;
financing of inappropriate travel and expenses;
and inappropriate use of sales agents and consultants ”, according to the press release.
Investigate connection to IS
In addition, violations of Ericsson's internal financial controls, conflicts of interest, non-compliance with tax laws and obstruction of investigation were found.
The internal investigation also revealed "payments to intermediaries and the use of alternative transport routes, in connection with the circumvention of the Iraqi customs at a time when terrorist organizations, including ISIS, controlled certain transport routes", according to the press release.
ISIS is another name for the terrorist group Islamic State.
Ericsson states that the investigators did not succeed in determining the final recipients of those payments.
Vague press release
In addition, the investigation found payment arrangements and cash transactions that potentially entailed a risk of money laundering, according to Ericsson.
"The investigation could not show that any Ericsson employee was directly involved in financing terrorist organizations," Ericsson writes in the press release.
In a press release last week, Ericsson only said that the company took action after "identifying errors" in an internal investigation in 2019 linked to the operations in Iraq.
The investigation was initiated after unclear reports of expenses in Iraq 2018 were discovered.