Ericsson hires a grizzled veteran as its new legal chief

Swedish package maker Ericsson wants all the help it can get with its Iraq scandal, so it has employed a new authorized main.

The organization this week appointed Scott Dresser as its new main legal officer. Dresser, who will report to Ericsson CEO Börje Ekholm, joins from Veon, in which he served as team basic counsel, and helped the Netherlands-dependent telco group manage the fallout from its possess scandal.

“Scott joins us at a significant time and will engage in a critical position doing work with me, our board and the relaxation of our workforce as we carry on to develop and strengthen the firm,” Ekholm mentioned in a assertion on Wednesday. “We demand that our business enterprise be done responsibly and with integrity throughout its value chain. Scott’s experience driving favourable alter will be a must have as Ericsson expands its small business and proceeds its cultural transformation, maximizing its governance, compliance, and controls.”

Dresser replaces Xavier Dedullen, who has been chief authorized officer given that 2018. Ekholm thanked Dedullen for his dedication, noting that for the duration of his tenure, Ericsson has “taken critical strides in a number of strategic parts,” including its compliance programme.

It is good to say that Ericsson is feeling the warmth at the moment, what with the current revelations about the staggering diploma of historical corruption at its Iraqi organization. Acquiring been knowledgeable by the US Section of Justice (DoJ) that these developments represent a breach of an earlier $1 billion corruption settlement – identified as the Deferred Prosecution Settlement (DPA) – arrived at in late 2019, it is also truthful to say that the business requires to tread pretty thoroughly with the authorities.

Thankfully for Ericsson, its new main lawful officer has some appropriate encounter. Dresser was Veon’s team common counsel in 2016, when it agreed a $795 million deal with the DoJ, the SEC and Dutch regulators to settle allegations that the telco, less than its previous model title VimpelCom, bribed its way into Uzbekistan. In accordance to the settlement, it paid out an influential Uzbek government official at least $114 million in its work to secure licences, frequencies and numbers. In addition to the significant payment, the corporation agreed to a a few-calendar year time period of unbiased monitoring to ensure there was no much more funny business.

Veon claimed in a independent assertion that Dresser played a vital function in reshaping the organisation and its governance, navigating it as a result of its DoJ/SEC compliance monitoring interval, which ended in 2019.

“Scott has been a key member of the C-suite and a deeply reliable advisor to the board in the course of his time with Veon,” reported Veon chairman Gennady Gazin. “We have relied on him all over huge transformation and thank him for his steerage and management. He has produced just one of the industry’s leading authorized groups and leaves guiding a fantastic legacy.”

Dresser will acquire up his new part future Monday.

“I am enthusiastic to be becoming a member of and glance ahead to operating with Börje and the whole organisation to execute the approach although focusing on running with the highest criteria of company governance and compliance,” Dresser claimed.

In truth, Ekholm doubtless hopes Dresser will draw on his substantial experience and lead Ericsson on its own transformation, as it operates to appease the authorities and remove any chance of becoming entangled in potential scandals.