A Swedish court acquitted three former Telia employees of corruption charges related to the operator group’s entry into Uzbekistan, as current company chair Marie Ehrling welcomed the end of proceedings as closing a painful chapter.

Associated Press reported the three former employees, including the ex-CEO of TeliaSonera (as Telia was previously known) Lars Nyberg, had been cleared with the judge citing a lack of evidence.

In a statement, Ehrling said even though Telia had not been directly involved in the criminal case it had been effected by it.

“Our ambition during this entire process has been to cooperate as transparently as possible with the authorities involved. The entry into Uzbekistan which began in 2007 has had very serious consequences for Telia Company and for individuals alike.”

“I hope that today’s ruling will bring an end to a painful and costly chapter in Telia Company’s history.”

Telia reached a $965 million global settlement in September 2017 with the US Department of Justice (DoJ) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC); Dutch and Swedish authorities after the company was found guilty of making $330 million worth of bribes to break into the Uzbek market.

The rejection of the case against the employees means a $208.5 million segment of the global settlement, which could have previously been allocated to authorities in Sweden, will now be given to organisations in the Netherlands or US.