France agrees to end Airbus corruption probe in US$4b deal

A French court has approved an agreement with Airbus that would see the plane maker pay up to US$4 billion to end years of corruption investigations by three countries.

Courts in the United States and the United Kingdom were considering Friday their own parts of the deal with the company as part of an unusually large, international investigation.

French national financial prosecutor Jean-Francois Bohnert said Airbus had “acknowledged acts of corruption” in negotiating the deal.

British and French authorities are investigating alleged fraud and bribery related to Airbus’ use of outside consultants to sell planes. US authorities are also investigating Airbus’ compliance with American arms trafficking regulations.

The settlement was among the biggest-ever in both France and Britain in a company corruption case.

While costly, the settlement could allow Airbus to turn the page on a period that damaged its reputation and led to management and policy changes.

Bohnert said that former executives, including ex-CEO Tom Enders, could still face eventual trial in a separate but related French investigation into wrongdoing by individuals. Friday’s ruling only concerned Airbus as a company.

Airbus said earlier in the week that it had put aside €3.6 billion (US$4 billion) to cover the costs of the fine.

France would get €2.1 billion out of that sum. The UK would get the equivalent of €983 million and the United States would get €530 million.

French prosecutors said the agreement was unprecedented because of its scale and the fact that it had been arranged with three countries. Investigators had gathered 30 million documents and conducted searches or interviews in 20 countries, including of current and former executives and employees.

The French financial prosecutor’s office and British Serious Fraud Office started investigating in 2016, and the US Department of Justice joined in 2018.

– AP