SFO informed Airbus in February 2023 that it would discontinue the investigations/prosecution. PNF provided a similar confirmation to Airbus in March 2023. The DoJ's confirmation has not been received yet. This is anticipated to take several months more. Airbus has no indication that the DoJ will take a different approach than the SFO and PNF.&nbsp;
Ongoing monitoring processes We asked several questions aimed at obtaining a clearer view on the ongoing monitoring and auditing which has taken place over the past three years in the context of the settlements. This auditing and monitoring process was conducted by the Agence Fran&ccedil;aise Anticorruption, acting for all three governments.
Although Airbus was not able to respond how many sessions with the AFA had occurred and how many audits were performed by AFA, it was made clear that AFA's process concerned all parts of Airbus business and that the process was rigorous. It was also confirmed that Airbus' current auditor has remained closely involved all the way.
We have asked if and to which extent further investigations may be expected. No conclusive answer was provided. Airbus only stated that it would make further announcements if such investigations would occur.
Minutes As an extra, we have urged Airbus to make its AGM's minutes available on its website. For some reason, Airbus only publishes extracts of its minutes which only contain a list of resolutions taken. We explained that this seems at odds with generally accepted corporate governance criteria and that reasonableness and fairness require publication of full minutes, especially for companies with such a broad shareholders' base as Airbus. Airbus will discuss internally.

We asked questions at Airbus’ Annual General Meeting

<h3>Largest ever penalty on global bribery practices</h3>
On 31 January 2020, Airbus&thinsp;&ndash;&thinsp;the global supplier of aircrafts, and Europe&rsquo;s largest aerospace multinational&thinsp;&ndash;&thinsp;announced that it had reached a settlement with French, US and UK authorities. Airbus paid combined penalties of &euro;3.6 billion to avoid prosecution over landing contracts via bribery to airline executives and government officials in 20 countries between 2004 and 2016. This represents the largest global foreign bribery fine to date.
<h3>Damage to Airbus shareholders</h3>
The fines severely affected the company&rsquo;s earnings and tarnished Airbus&rsquo; reputation. When this information became publicly known, the inflated price of Airbus shares fell sharply, causing large losses for investors. Airbus had failed to immediately inform investors of its unlawful conduct and to comply with legal disclosure obligations regarding its involvement in bribery practices and the significant reputational and financial risk it faced as a result.
<h3>Shareholder compensation</h3>
In May 2022, Airbus settled a class action lawsuit and compensated only shareholders who bought Airbus American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) and foreign ordinary shares in the U.S. Shareholders who bought Airbus shares through European stock exchanges were left out.
<h3>Compensation for European shareholders</h3>
Today BETTER FINANCE, The European Federation of Investors and Financial Services Users, announces that it joins forces with SILC, an independent foundation that assists shareholders in recovering investment losses and which currently represents institutional investors with more than EUR 300 million in losses against Airbus. On behalf of all who bought Airbus shares through European stock exchanges, SILC filed a collective action before the Court in The Netherlands against Airbus SE, and its responsible executives and auditors.
<h3>No win, no fee</h3>
This action is supported by experienced experts and&thinsp;powered by DRRT, an international law firm and market leader in global loss recovery with significant experience and involvement in Dutch cases, and Rightshare, a platform that connects individual shareholders to worldwide investment recovery opportunities. The legal costs for the recovery action will be covered by an external funder contracted by SILC for the benefit of all affected shareholders; there are no upfront costs for registered investors.
<h3>Registration is open</h3>
BETTER FINANCE and its member organisations call on all investors who bought and/or held Airbus shares between January 2014 and December 2020 on European stock exchanges to come forward and join the pending shareholder recovery action against Airbus&thinsp;by SILC.
Free registration is now open at <a href="http://www.airbusclaim.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">www.airbusclaim.com</a>

BETTER FINANCE joins forces in collective redress for individual Airbus investors

The hearing only concerns preliminary issues raised by the defendants, such as the District Court&rsquo;s international jurisdiction, the admissibility of the foundation, the applicable procedural rules and, potentially, which of the claimant groups should take the lead in the proceedings.
The hearing is open for the public and will start at 9h30 AM. If you are interested in attending, we recommend you to contact that The Hague District Court in advance.

Oral hearings scheduled for 23 March 2023

The suit, filed by the Foundation for Investor Loss Compensation on Jan. 3 at The Hague District Court, says investors suffered losses after buying shares in Airbus SE (AIR.PA) that were overpriced because the company withheld information about corruption at the company. The suit also names accountants KMPG and Ernst &amp; Young as defendants.
<img src="https://www.datocms-assets.com/91912/1673943050-5geu47zjofp2vcuo3q4de2d3ii-jpg.webp" />
Source: <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/airbus-faces-339-million-class-action-suit-netherlands-lawyers-say-2022-01-07/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Reuters</a> Image credit: REUTERS/Fabian Bimmer, Rechtbank Amsterdam/consortium NACH

Airbus faces $339 million class action suit in the Netherlands, lawyers say

Under the terms of the DPA, Airbus SE agrees to pay a fine and costs amounting to &euro;991m here in the UK, and in total, &euro;3.6bn as part the world&rsquo;s largest global resolution for bribery, involving authorities in France and the United States.
The announcement comes a little under four years after the SFO began investigating the company over allegations that it had used external consultants to bribe customers to buy its civilian and military aircrafts.
The indictment, which has been suspended for the term of the DPA, covers five counts of failure to prevent bribery. The conduct involves Airbus&rsquo; Commercial and Defence &amp; Space divisions. The conduct covered by the UK DPA took place across five jurisdictions: Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan and Ghana between 2011 and 2015.
The Judge ruled today in a public hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice that the total sum (&euro;983.97m plus the SFO&rsquo;s costs of &euro;6.9m) reflected the gravity of the conduct, the full cooperation of Airbus SE in the investigation, and the programme of corporate reform and compliance put in place by new leadership at the top of the company.
As part of the DPA, the company has agreed to full cooperation with the SFO and its law enforcement partners in any future investigations and prosecutions, and disclosure of any subsequent wrongdoing by the company or its employees, subject to applicable laws. If the company does not honour the conditions of the DPA the prosecution may resume.
Airbus SE has also reached a Convention Judiciaire d&rsquo;Int&eacute;r&ecirc;t Public with the Parquet National Financier (PNF) and a Deferred Prosecution Agreement with the US Department of Justice and US Department of State today. In total, these agreements together with the SFO DPA require Airbus SE to pay approximately &euro;3.6 billion (including &euro;2,083,137,455 to the PNF and &euro;525,655,000 to the US authorities) at the exchange rate at time of payment.
In her judgment, Dame Victoria Sharp said: &ldquo;The seriousness of the criminality in this case hardly needs to be spelled out. As is acknowledged on all sides, it was grave. The conduct took place over many years. It is no exaggeration to describe the investigation it gave rise to as worldwide, extending into every continent in which Airbus operates. The number of countries subject to intense criminal investigation by the various agencies, and the scale and scope of the wrongdoing disclosed in the Statement of Facts demonstrate that bribery was to the extent indicated, endemic in two core business areas within Airbus.&rdquo;
Lisa Osofsky, Director of the SFO, said: &ldquo;Airbus paid bribes through agents around the world to stack the decks in its favour and win contracts around the globe. Corruption like this undermines free trade and fair development and it is to Airbus&rsquo;s credit that it has admitted its culpability, cleaned its house and come forward to put this conduct to bed.
 &ldquo;A resolution of this scope would not have been possible without the commitment, determination and hard work of SFO staff and our French and American colleagues.&nbsp; We are also indebted to law-enforcement partners around the world for the support they provided in securing this record-breaking resolution.&rdquo; 
The SFO investigation remains active and the position in relation to individuals is being considered.
<img src="https://www.datocms-assets.com/91912/1673886570-ab-press-release-0105-finalforweb2-scaled-2.jpg" />
Notes to editors 
<ol>
 <li>Airbus SE will pay &euro;3,592,766,766 in total in respect of agreements in the UK, France and the US.</li>
 <li>Under the Deferred Prosecution Agreement Airbus SE have agreed to:
 <ul>
 <li>Disgorge profit of &euro;585,939,740 to the SFO by 31 January 2023;</li>
 <li>Pay a fine of &euro;398,034,571 to the SFO within 30 days. Both amounts will be transferred to the Consolidated Fund managed by HM Treasury.</li>
 <li>Pay the SFO&rsquo;s investigative and legal costs of &euro;6,989,401 within 30 days.&nbsp;</li>
 </ul>
 </li>
 <li>The DPA will be in force until 31 January 2023.</li>
 <li>Arrangements for monitoring compliance with the conditions are set out in the terms of the DPA.</li>
 <li>This is the seventh DPA agreed between the SFO and a company since they were introduced in 2013.&nbsp;The total value of all seven is approximately &pound;1.53 billion (based on current exchange rate).</li>
 <li>On 31 January 2020, an indictment was laid at the Royal Courts of Justice and suspended at the request of the SFO in light of the DPA. The indictment charges Airbus with five counts of failing to prevent bribery, contrary to Section 7 of the Bribery Act 2010.</li>
 <li>The full DPA, judgment and Statement of Facts is found here.&nbsp;Please note that on 28 February 2020 a minor amendment was made to paragraph 91 (page 20) of the Statement of Facts to change the date of the market share agreement referred to therein from 30 October 2015 to 29 March 2013.</li>
 <li>The SFO announced its investigation into Airbus in August 2016.</li>
 <li>Airbus SE is a Dutch and French domiciled company, registered in the Netherlands.</li>
 <li>Airbus, the PNF in France and US Department of Justice are also releasing statements today.</li>
 <li>The SFO was represented by James Lewis QC, Allison Clare, Katherine Buckle and Mohsin Zaidi.</li>
</ol>

Source: <a href="https://www.sfo.gov.uk/2020/01/31/sfo-enters-into-e991m-deferred-prosecution-agreement-with-airbus-as-part-of-a-e3-6bn-global-resolution/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Serious Fraud Office</a>

SFO enters into €991m Deferred Prosecution Agreement with Airbus as part of a €3.6bn global resolution

PARIS &mdash; Airbus will pay $4 billion in fines to settle a lengthy global corruption investigation, a French court announced Friday, removing a legal cloud over the world&rsquo;s largest plane maker as it seeks to keep ahead of its rival Boeing after the grounding of Boeing&rsquo;s 737 Max plane.
The settlement with the authorities in France, Britain and the United States closes four years of investigations into accusations that Airbus, between 2004 and 2016, used intermediaries to bribe public officials in numerous countries to buy its planes and satellites. The episode had tarnished the company&rsquo;s reputation and forced it to make sweeping changes to top management.
It also allows Airbus to avoid criminal charges that, if proved, could have crippled its business by prohibiting the company from seeking public contracts in Europe and the United States. Airbus will be subject to three years of &ldquo;light compliance monitoring&rdquo; in France, the nation&rsquo;s anticorruption agency said Friday.
&ldquo;In reaching this agreement today, we are helping Airbus turn the page,&rdquo; said the French prosecutor, Jean-Francois Bohnert. The company &ldquo;can now serenely look to its economic future.&rdquo;
That future is immediately focused on delivering a record number of commercial airplanes on Airbus&rsquo;s order books, which are filled until 2023. The European aerospace giant broke records last year with over 1,200 new aircraft orders and deliveries.
Boeing is at a serious disadvantage after the crashes of two 737 Max planes, in 2018 and 2019, killed 346 people. Its 737 Max jets have been grounded around the world since then, at a cost of over $18 billion, the company said this week. Boeing has temporarily stopped making the plane, its most popular passenger jet, and lost orders for 87 commercial planes last year.
It would seem like a golden opportunity for Airbus to capitalize. But its huge order backlog is a challenge for Guillaume Faury, Airbus&rsquo;s chief executive, who will have to determine how much capacity Airbus has to take customers away from Boeing, according to industry analysts.
Airbus and its suppliers have been struggling with production challenges to meet delivery commitments to airlines. That has resulted in a buildup of inventory and a reduced cash flow.
Airbus has also insisted that it is not seeking to capitalize on the grounding of Boeing&rsquo;s Max fleet.
Source: The New York Times

Airbus to Pay $4 Billion to Settle Corruption Inquiry

This resolution is arising out of the Company&rsquo;s scheme to use third-party business partners to bribe government officials, as well as non-governmental airline executives, around the world and to resolve the Company&rsquo;s violation of the Arms Export Control Act (AECA) and its implementing regulations, the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), in the United States. This is the largest global foreign bribery resolution to date.&nbsp;
Airbus SE (Airbus or the Company) entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with the department in connection with a criminal information filed on Jan. 28, 2020 in the District of Columbia charging the Company with conspiracy to violate the anti-bribery provision of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and conspiracy to violate the AECA and its implementing regulations, the ITAR.&nbsp;The FCPA charge arose out of Airbus&rsquo;s scheme to offer and pay bribes to foreign officials, including Chinese officials, in order to obtain and retain business, including contracts to sell aircraft.&nbsp;The AECA charge stems from Airbus&rsquo;s willful failure to disclose political contributions, commissions or fees to the U.S. government, as required under the ITAR, in connection with the sale or export of defense articles and defense services to the Armed Forces of a foreign country or international organization.&nbsp;The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Thomas F. Hogan of the District of Columbia.
&ldquo;Airbus engaged in a multi-year and massive scheme to corruptly enhance its business interests by paying bribes in China and other countries and concealing those bribes,&rdquo; said Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department&rsquo;s Criminal Division.&nbsp;&ldquo;This coordinated resolution was possible thanks to the dedicated efforts of our foreign partners at the Serious Fraud Office in the United Kingdom and the PNF in France. The Department will continue to work aggressively with our partners across the globe to root out corruption, particularly corruption that harms American interests.&rdquo;
&ldquo;International corruption involving sensitive U.S. defense technology presents a particularly dangerous combination. Today&rsquo;s announcement demonstrates the Department&rsquo;s continuing commitment to ensuring that those who violate our export control laws are held to account,&rdquo; said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General David P. Burns of the Justice Department&rsquo;s National Security Division (NSD).&nbsp;&ldquo;The resolution, however, also reflects the significant benefits available under NSD&rsquo;s revised voluntary self-disclosure policy for companies that choose to self-report export violations, cooperate, and remediate as to those violations, even where there are aggravating circumstances.&nbsp;We hope other companies will make the same decision as Airbus to report potential criminal export violations timely and directly to NSD so that they too can avail themselves of the policy&rsquo;s benefits.&rdquo;
&ldquo;Today, Airbus has admitted to a years-long campaign of corruption around the world", said U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu of the District of Columbia. &ldquo;Through bribes, Airbus allowed rampant corruption to invade the U.S. system. Additionally, Airbus falsely reported information about their conduct to the U.S. government for more than five years in order to gain valuable licenses to export U.S. military technology.&nbsp;This case exemplifies the ability of our prosecutors and law enforcement to work with our foreign counterparts to ensure that corruption around the world is prevented and punished at the highest levels.&rdquo;&nbsp;
&ldquo;Airbus SE, the second largest Aerospace company world-wide, engaged in a systematic and deliberate conspiracy, that knowingly and willfully violated U.S. fraud and export laws,&rdquo; said Special Agent in Charge Peter C. Fitzhugh of&nbsp;U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement&rsquo;s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) New York. &ldquo;Airbus&rsquo;s fraud and bribery in commercial aircraft transactions strengthened corrupt airlines and bad actors worldwide, at the expense of straightforward enterprises.&nbsp;Additionally, the bribery of government officials, specifically those involved in the procurement of U.S. military technology, posed a national security threat to both the U.S. and its allies.&nbsp;The global threats facing the U.S. have never been greater than they are today, and HSI New York is committed to working with our federal and international partners to assure sensitive U.S. technologies are not unlawfully and fraudulently acquired. As this investigation reflects, national security continues to be a top priority not just for Department of Homeland Security, but for HSI New York.&rdquo;
The Company&rsquo;s payment to the United States will be $527 million for the FCPA and ITAR violations, and an additional 50 million Euros (approximately $55 million) as part of a civil forfeiture agreement for the ITAR-related conduct, and the department will credit a portion of the amount the Company pays to the Parquet National Financier (PNF) in France under the Company&rsquo;s agreement with the PNF. In addition, the Company has agreed to pay a $10 million penalty to the U.S. Department of State&rsquo;s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC), of which the department is crediting $5 million. In related proceedings, the Company settled with the PNF in France over bribes paid to government officials and non-governmental airline executives in China and multiple other countries and the Company has agreed to pay more than 2 billion Euros (more than approximately $2.29 billion) pursuant to the PNF agreement.&nbsp;As part of this coordinated global resolution, the Company also entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with the United Kingdom&rsquo;s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) over bribes paid in Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Indonesia and Ghana, and the Company has agreed to pay approximately 990 million Euros equivalent (approximately $1.09 billion) pursuant to the SFO agreement.&nbsp;The PNF and SFO had investigated the Company as part of a Joint Investigative Team.
According to admissions and court documents, beginning in at least 2008 and continuing until at least 2015, Airbus engaged in and facilitated a scheme to offer and pay bribes to decision makers and other influencers, including to foreign officials, in order to obtain improper business advantages and to win business from both privately owned enterprises and entities that were state-owned and state-controlled. In furtherance of the corrupt bribery scheme, Airbus employees and agents, among other things, sent emails while located in the United States and participated in and provided luxury travel to foreign officials within the United States.&nbsp;
The admissions and court documents establish that in order to conceal and to facilitate the bribery scheme, Airbus engaged certain business partners, in part, to assist in the bribery scheme.&nbsp;Between approximately 2013 and 2015, Airbus engaged a business partner in China and knowingly and willfully conspired to make payments to the business partner that were intended to be used as bribes to government officials in China in connection with the approval of certain agreements in China associated with the purchase and sale of Airbus aircraft to state-owned and state-controlled airlines in China. In order to conceal the payments and to conceal its engagement of the business partner in China, Airbus did not pay the business partner directly but instead made payments to a bank account in Hong Kong in the name of a company controlled by another business partner.&nbsp;
Pursuant to the AECA and ITAR, the DDTC regulates the export and import of U.S. defense articles and defense services, and prohibits their export overseas without the requisite licensing and approval of the DDTC. According to admissions and court documents, between December 2011 and December 2016, Airbus filed numerous applications for the export of defense articles and defense services to foreign armed forces. As part of its applications, Airbus was required under Part 130 of the ITAR to provide certain information related to political contributions, fees or commissions paid in connection with the sale of defense articles or defense services.&nbsp;The admissions and court documents reveal, however, that the Company engaged in a criminal conspiracy to knowingly and willfully violate the AECA and ITAR, by failing to provide DDTC with accurate information related to commissions paid by Airbus to third-party brokers who were hired to solicit, promote or otherwise secure the sale of defense articles and defense services to foreign armed forces.&nbsp;
As part of the deferred prosecution agreement with the department, Airbus has agreed to continue to cooperate with the department in any ongoing investigations and prosecutions relating to the conduct, including of individuals, and to enhance its compliance program.
For the FCPA-related conduct, the department reached this resolution with Airbus based on a number of factors, including the Company&rsquo;s cooperation and remediation.&nbsp;In addition, for the FCPA-related conduct, the U.S. resolution recognizes the strength of France&rsquo;s and the United Kingdom&rsquo;s interests over the Company&rsquo;s corruption-related conduct, as well as the compelling equities of France and the United Kingdom to vindicate their respective interests as those countries deem appropriate, and the department has taken into account these countries&rsquo; determination of the appropriate resolution into all aspects of the U.S. resolution.
With respect to the AECA and ITAR-related conduct, the department reached this resolution with Airbus based on the voluntary and timely nature of its disclosure to the department as well as the Company&rsquo;s cooperation and remediation.&nbsp;
HSI&rsquo;s New York Field Office Counter Proliferation Investigations Group is investigating the case.&nbsp;Deputy Chief Christopher Cestaro, Assistant Chief Vanessa Sisti and Trial Attorney Elina A. Rubin Smith of the Criminal Division&rsquo;s Fraud Section, Deputy Chief Elizabeth L. D. Cannon and Trial Attorney David Lim of the National Security Division&rsquo;s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michelle Zamarin, Gregg Maisel, David Kent and Karen Seifert of the District of Columbia are prosecuting the case.&nbsp;The Criminal Division&rsquo;s Office of International Affairs provided assistance.
The Department of Justice acknowledges and expresses its appreciation of the significant assistance provided by France&rsquo;s Parquet National Financier and the UK&rsquo;s Serious Fraud Office.&nbsp;
The Fraud Section is responsible for all investigations and prosecutions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and conducts other investigations into sophisticated economic crimes.&nbsp;The Counterintelligence and Export Control Section supervises the investigation and prosecution of cases involving the export of military and strategic commodities and technology, including cases under the AECA and ITAR.
The year 2020 marks the 150th anniversary of the Department of Justice.&nbsp;Learn more about the history of our agency at&nbsp;<a href="https://www.justice.gov/Celebrating150Years">www.Justice.gov/Celebrating150Years</a>.
&nbsp;
Source: <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/airbus-agrees-pay-over-39-billion-global-penalties-resolve-foreign-bribery-and-itar-case">United States Department of Justice</a>

Airbus Agrees to Pay over $3.9 Billion in Global Penalties to Resolve Foreign Bribery and ITAR Case

<img src="https://cdn.rightshare.com/cms-media/AB_press_release_0105_finalforweb2_scaled_636e8fe14a.jpg" alt="AB-press-release-0105-finalforweb2-scaled.jpg" srcset="https://cdn.rightshare.com/cms-media/thumbnail_AB_press_release_0105_finalforweb2_scaled_636e8fe14a.jpg 244w,https://cdn.rightshare.com/cms-media/small_AB_press_release_0105_finalforweb2_scaled_636e8fe14a.jpg 500w,https://cdn.rightshare.com/cms-media/medium_AB_press_release_0105_finalforweb2_scaled_636e8fe14a.jpg 750w,https://cdn.rightshare.com/cms-media/large_AB_press_release_0105_finalforweb2_scaled_636e8fe14a.jpg 1000w," sizes="100vw" />
On 31 January 2020, the Serious Fraud Office entered into a record-breaking Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA) with the global aerospace company Airbus SE following its approval by Dame Victoria Sharp, President of the Queen&rsquo;s Bench Division. The indictment, which has been suspended for the term of the DPA, covers five counts of failure to prevent bribery and involved Airbus&rsquo; Commercial and Defence &amp; Space divisions. The conduct covered by the UK DPA took place across five jurisdictions: Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan and Ghana between 2011 and 2015.
Under the terms of the DPA, Airbus SE agreed to pay a fine, disgorgement of profits and costs amounting to &euro;991m here in the UK, and in total, &euro;3.6bn as part the world&rsquo;s largest global resolution for bribery, involving authorities in France and the United States. On the same day as entering into a DPA with the SFO, Airbus SE also reached a Convention Judiciaire d&rsquo;Int&eacute;r&ecirc;t Public with the Parquet National Financier (PNF) and a Deferred Prosecution Agreement with the US Department of Justice and US Department of State. In total, these agreements together with the SFO DPA required Airbus SE to pay approximately &euro;3.6 billion (including &euro;2,083,137,455 to the PNF and &euro;525,655,000 to the US authorities) at the exchange rate at time of payment. Please see the full press release here. The DPA, Statement of Facts and Judgment of Dame Victoria Sharp can be found here.
In February 2020, Airbus SE paid its financial penalty, disgorgement and costs to the SFO. In GBP, this figure was &pound;830m in total, comprising of disgorgement of profits of &pound;491m, financial penalty of &pound;333m, and the SFO&rsquo;s reasonable costs of &pound;6m. This has been transferred to the Treasury for onward transmission.
The case remains open until the end of the DPA period.
Page published on 7 Sep 2016 | Page modified on 17 May 2021

UK's Serious Fraud Office opens criminal investigation agains Airbus Group

<h4 id="criminal-investigation">Criminal investigation</h4>
The UK&rsquo;s Serious Fraud Office has confirmed that it has opened a criminal investigation into allegations of fraud, bribery and corruption in the commercial airline business of Airbus, the defence and aviation firm. The investigation into potential criminal dealings in the sale of commercial planes was launched in July but revealed at the weekend by the European manufacturer.
The SFO said that the allegations related to irregularities with third party consultants. Airbus said it had flagged up the suspect activity itself, effectively self-reporting to the SFO via UK export agencies, and was cooperating fully with the investigation.
<h4 id="statement-airbus">Statement Airbus</h4>
In a statement issued on Sunday, Airbus said:&nbsp;&ldquo;Airbus Group 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. Airbus Group continues to cooperate with the SFO.&rdquo;&nbsp;Neither Airbus nor the SFO would comment further on the details.
<h4 id="suspension-of-export-credits">Suspension of export credits</h4>
Earlier this year, a UK government agency suspended the issue of export credits to Airbus, due to discrepancies in declarations by the manufacturer on the use of outside intermediaries during jet sale negotiations. Airbus said it had flagged up the mistakes and omissions relating to applications for export credit financing for its customers.
The agency, UK Export Finance, had said it was referring the discrepancies to the SFO, which would decide whether to launch a criminal investigation. French and German agencies have also halted the plane-maker&rsquo;s export credits, which support deliveries to airlines with limited access to commercial funds.
This month, Airbus&rsquo;s group CEO Tom Enders said they were hopeful that export credits would be restored by the end of the year. Airbus itself has extended credit worth &euro;587m to customers in the first half of 2016 &ndash; a tenfold increase on 2015 &ndash; to maintain sales.
<h4 id="investor-notification">Investor notification</h4>
Airbus notified investors of the potential issues in April, saying that the discovery of irregularities had emerged&nbsp;&ldquo;in the context of its internal compliance improvement programme&rdquo;. Offshoots and companies jointly owned by Airbus had come under investigation in the last two years in Germany, Greece and Turkey.
The Toulouse-headquartered aeroplane manufacturer&rsquo;s global business sees contracts of staggering proportions, with its current order book valued at just under $1tn (&pound;764bn) at the start of 2016. It claims in recent years to have edged US giant and great rival Boeing in the market for the biggest jets, although its flagship doubledecker superjumbo, the A380, has failed to find many new customers outside the Middle East.
While it has subsidiaries in the US, China, Japan, India and the Middle East, Airbus&rsquo;s major aircraft design and manufacturing facilities are based in France, Germany, Spain and the UK, where wings are engineered.
Third-party intermediaries have caused concern among firms in other sectors, as bribery legislation developed in the US and the UK have demanded higher levels of due diligence from firms in recent years. While the SFO investigation appears to be concerned with third parties, Airbus will be keen to avoid the reputational cloud that has settled over Rolls-Royce, an engine manufacturer for both Boeing and Airbus, which is also separately under an SFO investigation.
Source:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/aug/07/uk-office-launches-inquiry-into-airbus-deals">The Guardian</a>