Nortel Discloses Canadian Criminal Probe

Toronto (Aug. 19, 2004) -- Telecommunications equipment giant Nortel Networks Corp. announced this week that its past accounting practices, which are the subject of a criminal probe in the United States, are under scrutiny by Canadian authorities.

The company disclosed that it received a letter from the Integrated Market Enforcement Team of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police advising the company that the RCMP are opening a criminal investigation into the company’s financial accounting situation.

"These matters have been the subject of an ongoing review by the RCMP," the company said in a press release. Nortel said that it would continue to cooperate fully with the RCMP in connection with the investigation.

Back in May, a federal grand jury in Texas subpoenaed Nortel to produce financial documents dating back four years as part of a criminal investigation into accounting irregularities at the company.

The documents, which included financial statements and corporate, personnel and accounting records dating back to Jan. 1, 2000, were requested as part of an investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division.

Nortel, which is also under investigation by U.S. and Canadian securities regulators in connection with its past financial restatements, in April fired three of its top executives, including its former chief executive, and said that it would restate results as far back as 2001.

-- WebCPA staff

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