Swedish prosecutor opens preliminary investigation into alleged Ericsson bribes in Iraq - TT news agency

Swedish prosecutors have opened a preliminary investigation in to alleged bribes paid by telecom giant Ericsson in Iraq, Swedish news agency TT said on Wednesday, quoting the prosecutor Leif Gorts as saying.

“Yes, I can confirm that, but I can not go into more detail about what it concerns as it has just begun,” Gorts told TT.

Ericsson and the prosecutor could not be immediately reached by Reuters for comment.

Ericsson said this month it would likely be fined by U.S. regulators for its handling of a bribery investigation in Iraq. The company said in February that an internal investigation had found it may have made payments to the Islamic State militant group in Iraq – misconduct it said “started at least back in 2011”. [nL5N2WC0NF]

STOCKHOLM (Reuters)