Sweden: TeliaSonera Fires Four Top Executives After Ethics Probe

Swedish telecommunications giant TeliaSonera fired four senior management executives on Friday after an ethics review determined that deals in Asia were conducted improperly, The Financial Times reports.

TeliaSonera's board dismissed former chief financial officer Per-Arne Blomquist and three other top employees, ten months after former CEO Lars Nyberg resigned in the wake of a bribery and money laundering scandal.

TeliaSonera came under fire in 2012 after Swedish television network SVT and OCCRP determined that a local partner in Uzbekistan was an offshore company connected to the ruling family.

The Swedish government, which holds the largest stake in TeliaSonera, joined other shareholders in criticizing the company's management, eventually leading to Nyberg's resignation while allegations of bribery and money laundering surfaced.

Following the Uzbekistan scandal the board ordered further review into other operations conducted in the same region, revealing various deals similar to the Uzbekistan affair.

John Dennelind, TeliaSonera's current chief executive, declared that the firings were the results of "not enough risk assessment, not enough questions asked, not enough red flags acted upon."

According to the AP, the board declared that the review is scheduled to continue.