Airbus Reaches International Deal Over Corruption Probe -- Update
January 28 2020 - 3:19AM
Dow Jones News
By Benjamin Katz
LONDON -- Airbus SE has reached a preliminary agreement with
fraud agencies in the U.S., U.K. and France over a longstanding
investigation into bribery and corruption.
The European plane maker said in a statement Tuesday it had
reached in principle a so-called deferred prosecution agreement
that allows the company to avoid formal charges and require it to
pay what is expected to be a record fine.
The agreements still require approval by courts in each
jurisdiction, Airbus said.
The settlement comes about four years after Airbus first
announced it was under investigation for using third-party
consultants to help secure lucrative orders for commercial
aircraft.
Airbus said at the time it had self-reported to investigators
after discovering irregularities in its submissions for
state-backed funding guarantees.
The resulting investigations grew into a slow-boiling crisis for
Airbus, eventually triggering a nearly complete overhaul of its top
management and sales teams. Airbus has handed over millions of
documents to investigators, and created a new ethics and compliance
system designed to prevent future contraventions.
It also placed a blanket ban on the use of third-party agents
and halted ongoing contracts, a move which has led to a series of
legal disputes.
The deal follows a similar agreement reached with Rolls-Royce
Holding PLC in 2017 that required the engine maker to pay GBP671
million ($874 million) in penalties to U.K., U.S. and Brazilian
investigators. Airbus's deal is expected to be multiples in
size.
More to follow.
Write to Benjamin Katz at ben.katz@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 28, 2020 03:04 ET (08:04 GMT)
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