Shares in Ericsson slide 14% as CEO says it may have paid Isis in Iraq

Börje Ekholm. File Picture: Wikimedia Commons

Ericsson may have made payments to the Isis organisation to gain access to certain transport routes in Iraq, in a shock admission following years of regulatory investigations.

Shares in the Stockholm-based company slid 14% on the news.

The admission from Ericsson comes after the company was accused by the US Department of Justice in October of breaching a $1bn agreement it made with prosecutors in 2019 to end a long-running corruption probe.

In an interview with newspaper Dagens Industri, chief executive officer Borje Ekholm said that Ericsson had identified “unusual expenses dating back to 2018” but the company hasn’t yet determined who the final recipient of the money was.

“What we are seeing is that transport routes have been purchased through areas that have been controlled by terrorist organisations, including Isis,” Mr Ekholm added.

- Bloomberg