Swedish TeliaSonera has announced that its president and CEO, Lars Nyberg, will leave the company. This comes after it was severely criticised by the Mannheimer Swartling review into corruption allegations in Uzbekistan.
“I am greatly relieved that Mannheimer Swartling has not found anything to support the allegations that TeliaSonera committed bribery or participated in money laundering. This is something that I have been convinced of since these allegations emerged,” said Nyberg in a statement.
“At the same time, the Mannheimer Swartling review criticises TeliaSonera, not least that we did not conduct a sufficiently in-depth analysis into the identity of our local partner in Uzbekistan before we invested in the country or into how this partner came to own the assets that were later obtained by TeliaSonera. Even if this transaction was legal, we should not have gone ahead without learning more about the identity of our counterparty. This is something I regret.”
“When the board received the Mannheimer Swartling report, I was informed that there would be significant changes to the composition of the board. In order to continue as chief executive I need a functioning board and their explicit support. I was informed that as a result of the pending changes to the board they were not prepared to express that support.
“At that point I made up my mind that I would leave my position as chief executive and therefore I am resigning.”
