Ericsson vowed to vigorously defend itself from legal action being taken in the US over self-reported misconduct surrounding its business in Iraq, which potentially involved payments to terrorist groups.

A lawsuit was filed on 4 August by a group including hostages and relatives of people who were injured or died while working for the US in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria from 2005 to 2021.

Ericsson is accused of regularly paying protection money to terrorist groups in Iraq, with the lawsuit tapping US anti-terrorism legislation and seeking compensation and punitive damages “to the maximum extent permitted by law”.

Al-Qaeda and Islamic State are named in the lawsuit as the groups involved. Ryan Sparacino, founding partner of the legal company handling the action, stated Ericsson made a “cold calculation” that “paying terrorists protection money to ensure safe passage through Iraq would be better for its business”.

A representative for Ericsson told Mobile World Live the company would “zealously defend against this action” and “any effort to connect Ericsson to the actions described in the complaint will fail on the merits”.

In February, Ericsson disclosed the results of an internal investigation undertaken in 2019 into its activities in Iraq showing misconduct between 2011 and 2019.