Andre Yoskowitz
27 May 2012 20:41
Ericsson, the world's largest mobile network equipment maker, has been fined by the U.S. Department of Commerce for violating export restrictions by shipping equipment to Cuba.
The company's Panamanian subsidiary was fined $1.75 million for the violation and the two groups reached an agreement earlier this week.
According to sources, Ericsson had been operating a "scheme" in which broken equipment was shipped from Cuba to the U.S. for repair after employees masked the origin of the shipment. The equipment was then sent back to Cuba from the U.S., after similar masking including falsification of documents.
Ericsson de Panama voluntarily disclosed the violations after uncovering the shipments which were set up by three former employees. The employees were fired.
In total, the penalty covered 262 violations of federal regulations from the years of 2004-2007, for $320,000 worth of equipment.