Ericsson says U.S. DOJ advises it breached obligations under DPA

(Reuters) - Swedish telecommunications equipment maker Ericsson said Friday it received correspondence from U.S. Department of Justice stating that the company breached its obligations under a Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA) by failing to provide certain documents and factual information.

In 2019, Ericsson entered into an agreement to pay over $1 billion to resolve probes into corruption, including the bribing of government officials.

The bribery took place over many years in countries including China, Vietnam and Djibouti, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

Ericsson said on Friday that at this stage it is premature to predict the outcome of these developments and it intends to cooperate with the DOJ.

A spokesperson for DOJ did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

In December, 2019, the company admitted it had conspired with others to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) from at least 2000 to 2016 by engaging in a scheme to pay bribes and to falsify books and records and by failing to implement reasonable internal accounting controls, the Justice Department said.

(Reporting by Aakriti Bhalla in Bengaluru; Editing by Shri Navaratnam and Richard Pullin)