Regarding compliance cases handled by Telenor Group ASA and its subsidiaries
(Thomson Reuters ONE) -
(FORNEBU, 12 December 2016) During the past days, media has approached Telenor
ASA with questions regarding cases uncovered by Group Internal Audit, currently
being handled internally or under investigation by local government. In this
release, Telenor ASA accounts for these cases. Two of the three cases were
commented on by Telenor in April, this year.
dtac in Thailand
dtac and Telenor announced in April, 2016, that dtac through its internal audit
function had discovered deviations linked to site lease agreements in Thailand.
dtac therefore hired PWC to conduct an external review. Their investigations
showed that some local partners were unable to provide sufficient documentation
of ownership of the land where the base stations are located. The rental
agreements were according to common industrial practice in Thailand, but was not
in line with Telenor's internal guidelines. dtac has therefore changed its
rental agreement routines and initiated a process to ensure that ownership is
clearly documented in all rental agreements. This work will be concluded in
2017.
Reporting of suspicions of financial crimes
Telenor Group Internal Audit has uncovered matters related to suspicions of
financial crimes and reported them to the local police in one of our markets.
Due to the investigation, Telenor has been asked by local authorities not to
comment any further on the case at this point.
Grameenphone in Bangladesh
Telenor Group Internal Audit in May 2016, uncovered that 11 of 250 sponsorship
agreements broke with the company's internal guidelines. Breaches of our
internal guidelines are unacceptable, and corrective and preventive measures
have therefore been initiated.
The first time Telenor Group Internal Audit uncovered unacceptable sponsorships
in Grameenphone, was in 2013. The most serious breach was the sponsorship of a
sports tournament, related to the Bangladeshi military. The case was reported to
Sigve Brekke, who at that time was head of Asia and Chair of the Grameenphone
Board of Directors. The company initiated several measures, including a review
of the sponsorship guidelines and the establishment of a sponsorship committee
to approve all sponsorships.
In 2016, Telenor Group Internal Audit conducted a compliance review of the new
guidelines and uncovered a new set of unacceptable sponsorships. The agreements
included sponsorships of sports tournaments, the security police's jubilee
celebrations, the refurbishment of their canteen as well as financial support to
a phone book publication for the police.
As soon as the audit was completed in June, the findings were reported to
Telenor CEO, Sigve Brekke, and to the Chair of the Board, Gunn Wærsted. All
agreements in breach of the sponsorship policy have been terminated. External
legal advisors have completed two independent legal reviews of case. No payment
to individuals have been detected. Telenor still acknowledges that this case
could have been followed-up closer after 2013. At the same time, it is positive
to see that our internal control mechanisms work, ensuring that such matters are
uncovered and handled.
Telenor is currently further strengthening our routines for allocating
sponsorships. The Board of Directors in Telenor ASA has previously processed and
considered Sigve Brekke's involvement in the case and regards it as concluded
with regards to Brekke's handling.
See separate report for further details about Grameenphone case on
www.telenor.com
Contacts:
Glenn Mandelid (Head of Media Relations): +47 926 61 300
Atle Lessum (VP Group Communications): +47 415 05 645
This announcement is distributed by Nasdaq Corporate Solutions on behalf of Nasdaq Corporate Solutions clients.
The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.
Source: Telenor via GlobeNewswire
Unternehmensinformation / Kurzprofil:
Datum: 12.12.2016 - 19:17 Uhr
Sprache: Deutsch
News-ID 512316
Anzahl Zeichen: 4430
contact information:
Town:
OSLO
Kategorie:
Business News
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