Washington DC - Swedish telecom equipment group Ericsson will pay a $206 million penalty in a foreign bribery settlement with the US Justice Department.

The Department said that Ericsson will plead guilty to engaging in a long-running scheme to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) by paying bribes, falsifying books and records, and failing to implement reasonable internal accounting controls in multiple countries around the world.

According to court documents, beginning in 2000 and continuing until 2016, Ericsson used third-party agents and consultants to make bribe payments to government officials and to manage off-the-books slush funds in Djibouti, China, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Kuwait.

As per the terms of the plea agreement, which must be accepted by the court, Ericsson agreed to plead guilty to the original charges deferred by the Deferred Prosecution Agreement: one count of conspiracy to violate the anti-bribery provisions of the FCPA and one count of conspiracy to violate the internal controls and books and records provisions of the FCPA.

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"Instead of honoring that commitment, Ericsson repeatedly failed to fully cooperate and failed to disclose evidence and allegations of misconduct in breach of the agreement. As a result of these broken promises, Ericsson must plead guilty to two criminal offenses and pay an additional fine," Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Polite said in a DOJ statement.

Ericsson will also be required to serve a term of probation through June 2024 and has agreed to a one-year extension of the independent compliance monitor.