Airbus Says French Fraud Investigators Open Probe Into Possible Misconduct
16 Mars 2017 - 9:04PM
Dow Jones News
By Robert Wall
LONDON -- France's financial-crimes investigator has begun a
preliminary
probe into alleged wrongdoing at Airbus Group SE, the company said Thursday, amid widening accusations facing the European plane maker over potential corruption.
Airbus said the French Parquet National Financier was
investigating the same alleged missteps already under scrutiny
since last year by Britain's top corruption watchdog, the Serious
Fraud Office. Both are examining potential corruption in Airbus
commercial plane deals overseas and the possible misuse of
middlemen to secure contracts.
Airbus said it would "cooperate fully with both
authorities."
The French authorities couldn't immediately be reached for
comment.
The charges come at a difficult time for Airbus. The Austrian
government last month said it was seeking more than $1 billion in
restitution from Airbus over the purchase of Eurofighter Typhoon
combat planes in 2003. The country's defense ministry accused
Airbus of "fraudulent and deceitful actions" that led to the plane
purchase. Airbus has denied that charge.
The British Serious Fraud Office also continues to investigate
allegations an Airbus subsidiary paid bribes to win business in
Saudi Arabia. The company has said it is cooperating with that
probe.
Those issues triggered Airbus to launch an internal ethics
review in late 2012. The company made changes to how it does
business in response.
Still, Airbus faces potentially big financial exposure from the
corruption investigations. Such probes can lead to huge fines for
companies if they are found guilty.
Britain's Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC, a big supplier to Airbus and
Boeing Co., in January signed deferred prosecution agreements with
U.S., British and Brazilian authorities after pleading guilty to
corruption over decades. Rolls-Royce has agreed to pay more than
$800 million to settle the cases.
Airbus already is facing the financial pinch from the ongoing
probe into its potential misuse of agents. European export credit
agencies, which typically act as a financial backstop to the
overseas sale of Airbus planes and other items, have withdrawn
their support. That has forced the Toulouse, France-based company
to reach into its own coffers to provide more customer financing
than usual, denting its free cash flow.
Airbus almost a year ago said it had initially alerted the U.K.
authorities that it may have submitted flawed information for
export credit financing, which spurred the SFO probe.
Airbus also has more recently restructured its sales and
marketing organization involved in overseas deals. Several
high-profile executives have departed the company in recent months
amid a wider company restructuring.
Write to Robert Wall at robert.wall@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 16, 2017 15:49 ET (19:49 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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