Nortel Networks insiders were barred Monday from buying or selling the company’s shares as fallout widened from the ongoing accounting scandal at Canada’s technology giant.

The Ontario Securities Commission order prohibits 161 current and former Nortel employees, officers and directors from trading their Nortel shares until the company issues audited financial results for 2003.

The OSC’s order doesn’t affect trading of Nortel stock by outside investors.

The order came amid reports Monday that Nortel paid millions of dollars in cash bonuses to executives in February — shortly before announcing that accounting problems would force it to delay its audited statements.

Also Monday, the Ontario Public Service Employees Union Pension Trust filed a class-action suit against the company in the United States, alleging Nortel paid more than $30 million US in bonuses based on “falsely positive” results for the fourth quarter of 2003.

The latest developments came days after Nortel revealed that the U.S. Attorney’s office in Dallas is conducting a criminal investigation into the company, adding to regulatory probes already underway in Canada and the United States.

Nortel shares fell 9% Monday, closing down 45¢ to $4.54 after touching their lowest point since September.

A Wall Street Journal report published Monday said Nortel executives got big cash bonuses in February, weeks before the company disclosed on March 10 that it had found problems with its 2003 financial statements.

Nortel has since said its 2003 profit was only half as big as the US$732 million it had reported in preliminary results issued in January.