Telenor today revealed details of financial irregularities uncovered by Group Internal Audit which is under investigation by local government.
Norwegian telecom giant said two Telenor subsidiaries — Grameenphone in Bangladesh and dtac in Thailand – are involved in financial irregularities.
Since dtac through its internal audit discovered deviations linked to telecom site lease deals, dtac hired PWC and its investigations concluded that some local partners could not provide sufficient documentation of ownership of the land for base stations.
The rental agreements were not in line with Telenor’s internal guidelines, but were according to industrial practice in Thailand. dtac has changed its rental agreement and the process to clearly document ownership in rental agreements will be concluded in 2017.
This apart, Telenor Group Internal Audit has uncovered matters related to financial crimes and reported them to the local police in one of its markets. Telenor will not disclose more details at this point because local authorities do not want to share more information.
Grameenphone in Bangladesh is also part of the investigation for illegal deals. Telenor said 11 of 250 sponsorship agreements are not in with the company’s internal guidelines.
Sponsorship of a sports tournament, related to the Bangladeshi military, was against the corporate policy of Telenor. Sigve Brekke, who was head of Asia and chair of the Grameenphone Board of Directors, has initiated several measures, including a review of the sponsorship guidelines and the establishment of a sponsorship committee to approve sponsorships.
In 2016, Telenor Group Internal Audit conducted a review of the new guidelines and identified 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.
Telenor Group CEO Sigve Brekke and Chair of the Board Gunn Wærsted terminated all agreements in breach of the sponsorship policy.
Telenor is further strengthening our routines for allocating sponsorships. The Board of Directors in Telenor has previously processed and considered Sigve Brekke’s involvement in the case and regards it as concluded with regards to Brekke’s handling.
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