AIR Airbus SE

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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