“The mentioned sponsorship funds have not been allocated in accordance with the Group’s internal guidelines,” Telenor said on Tuesday. “They should never have been allocated in the first place.”
A Telenor internal audit in 2013 first noticed the violation. The “most serious breach”, it said, "concerned a sporting event related to the Bangladesh Armed Forces".
A new audit by Group Internal Audit in May this year uncovered more breaches.
“The audit uncovered, among others, the sponsorship of an anniversary, and the refurbishment of a canteen used by the Bangladesh Police, including the security police, Rapid Action Battalion,” Telenor said.
Furthermore, continued sponsoring of the same sporting event as in 2013 was discovered.
Telenor noted that Grameenphone received security services by police, during strikes by local employees and service providers, among other places, outside Grameenphone’s offices in 2015.
Sponsorships of public authorities were in breach with internal guidelines.
In addition, the expense of two travel itineraries for two journalists to West Africa and Sri Lanka/India were discovered.
These sponsorships were awarded between 2015 to 2016.
Telenor says it has not uncovered that any transfer of funds to individuals have taken place in connection with these sponsorships.
It dubbed the violation “unacceptable” and pointed out that it was not “satisfied that the measures taken after the 2013-audit did not prevent additional cases of unacceptable sponsorships”.
In a statement Grameenphone said it got hundreds of sponsorship requests every year.
“To manage these there is a due process. An internal audit uncovered breaches to that approval process, which has been addressed with relevant internal functions at local and Group level,” the mobile operator said.
“We are confident that the measures taken as a result of these findings will strengthen our internal processes while ensuring adherence to Grameenphone's policies."
Friday, March 21, 2025
