Addendum
UK probes Airbus over fraud and bribery allegations
September 1st 2016
Britain’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has launched a criminal investigation into suspected fraud, bribery and corruption in connection with commercial airplane sales by Airbus, parent Airbus Group said. Read More »
“We ourselves detected this issue and self-disclosed it to the authorities. This is as an effort of our enhanced anti-corruption (policy). Management has taken robust action and is determined to resolve this issue in cooperation with the authorities,” the Toulouse-headquartered OEM said. The investigation is expected to take several years.
Earlier in 2016, a UK government agency, UK Export Finance, halted export credits to Airbus, which support deliveries to airlines with limited access to commercial funds, citing discrepancies in declarations by the manufacturer on the use of third party intermediaries during sales negotiations. The action was followed by France and Germany.
“Airbus has been informed by the SFO that it has opened a criminal investigation into allegations of fraud, bribery and corruption in the civil aviation business of Airbus Group relating to irregularities concerning third party consultants,” the company said in a statement.
A SFO representative said additional details of the probe would not be made public until charges were brought forward or the investigation dropped.
