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“We Have Been Thrown Under the Bus”: : Corporate Versus Individual Defense Mechanisms Against Transnational Corporate Bribery Charges

Schoultz, Isabel LU orcid and Flyghed, Janne (2020) In Journal of White Collar and Corporate Crime 2(1). p.24-35
Abstract
The telecommunication company Telia’s dealings in Uzbekistan have resulted in bribery accusations both in Sweden and in abroad. The article analyzes the defense mechanisms produced by both the corporation and the prosecuted former executives of the company. Telia’s initially denial eventually changed into a partial acknowledgment in combination with a scapegoating discourse. While Telia hardly defended itself at all in the Swedish court, the company’s former executives employed a defense of legality, denial of knowledge, of deviance, and of responsibility as well as a claim of being scapegoated. We discuss these developments in the light of the transformation of the Telia case from a mediated corporate scandal to a criminal court case and... (More)
The telecommunication company Telia’s dealings in Uzbekistan have resulted in bribery accusations both in Sweden and in abroad. The article analyzes the defense mechanisms produced by both the corporation and the prosecuted former executives of the company. Telia’s initially denial eventually changed into a partial acknowledgment in combination with a scapegoating discourse. While Telia hardly defended itself at all in the Swedish court, the company’s former executives employed a defense of legality, denial of knowledge, of deviance, and of responsibility as well as a claim of being scapegoated. We discuss these developments in the light of the transformation of the Telia case from a mediated corporate scandal to a criminal court case and from a focus on organizational to individual responsibility. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
corporate crime, accounts, neutralizations, bribery, court ethnography
in
Journal of White Collar and Corporate Crime
volume
2
issue
1
pages
24 - 35
publisher
SAGE Publications
ISSN
2631-309X
DOI
10.1177/2631309X20911883
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
f42c5d51-5e6f-4087-a3af-d41954167edd
date added to LUP
2020-04-24 09:16:50
date last changed
2021-03-22 20:31:19
@article{f42c5d51-5e6f-4087-a3af-d41954167edd,
  abstract     = {{The telecommunication company Telia’s dealings in Uzbekistan have resulted in bribery accusations both in Sweden and in abroad. The article analyzes the defense mechanisms produced by both the corporation and the prosecuted former executives of the company. Telia’s initially denial eventually changed into a partial acknowledgment in combination with a scapegoating discourse. While Telia hardly defended itself at all in the Swedish court, the company’s former executives employed a defense of legality, denial of knowledge, of deviance, and of responsibility as well as a claim of being scapegoated. We discuss these developments in the light of the transformation of the Telia case from a mediated corporate scandal to a criminal court case and from a focus on organizational to individual responsibility.}},
  author       = {{Schoultz, Isabel and Flyghed, Janne}},
  issn         = {{2631-309X}},
  keywords     = {{corporate crime; accounts; neutralizations; bribery; court ethnography}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  pages        = {{24--35}},
  publisher    = {{SAGE Publications}},
  series       = {{Journal of White Collar and Corporate Crime}},
  title        = {{“We Have Been Thrown Under the Bus”: : Corporate Versus Individual Defense Mechanisms Against Transnational Corporate Bribery Charges}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/2631309X20911883}},
  doi          = {{10.1177/2631309X20911883}},
  volume       = {{2}},
  year         = {{2020}},
}