STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Ericsson shareholders voted against discharging the CEO and most of the board members of liability for the tech company’s actions during 2022 at the group’s annual general meeting on Wednesday.
Under Swedish law, if board members are not discharged of their liabilities for the previous year by shareholders owning at least 10% of the stock they can be sued by the company and its investors.
Shareholders are upset with the company’s perceived mishandling of alleged bribery cases. Ericsson was fined 207 million dollars earlier this year by the U.S. authorities for not properly disclosing that a 2019 investigation had found the company may have paid bribes to militant organisations in Iraq.
“Almost exactly a year ago, we were promised more information. Since then we have been waiting, but the questions are still unanswered,” Sverre Linton of the Swedish Shareholder’s Association said at the AGM.
Ericsson’s board was denied discharge of liability last year too, in a rare rebuke for corporate leadership in Sweden.
(Reporting by Johan Ahlander. Editing by Jane Merriman)