WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 09th September, 2021) A dual citizen of Ethiopia and Sweden, Afework Bereket has been charged for his alleged role in bribing Djibouti government officials with $2.1 million while working for the Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson, the US Justice Department said in a press release.
"A Federal indictment was unsealed today in the Southern District of New York charging a former employee of the Swedish multinational telecommunications company Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson ("Ericsson" or "the Company") for his alleged role in a scheme to pay approximately $2.1 million in bribes to high-level government officials in the Republic of Djibouti and conspiring to launder funds to promote the scheme," the release said on Wednesday.
The defendant was involved in the scheme in the period between 2010 and January 2014 when he was the account manager for the Horn of Africa. During this time, Bereket was allegedly a part of a scheme to bribe two high-ranking Djibouti officials to obtain a contract with the state-owned telecommunications company, the release said.
Bereket is charged with one count of conspiracy to breach the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) as well as one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and faces a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison, the release added.
Ericsson entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with the US Department of Justice in December 2019 in connection with violation of the anti-bribery provisions of FCPA. Its subsidiary, Ericsson Egypt Ltd., pleaded guilty to the same violation and paid a total penalty of over $520 million, according to the release.
