Airbus fined record £3bn over ‘endemic’ bribery scheme

Crimes include payments to politicians and airline executives to secure sales

The president of Airbus Commercial Aircraft Business Guillaume Faury speaks during a press conference to announce the annual results of the company, in Blagnac, on February 14, 2019. - Europe
The president of Airbus Commercial Aircraft Business Guillaume Faury speaks during a press conference
(Image credit: AFP via Getty Images)

Airbus has agreed to pay £3bn in fines after an investigation found it ran a program of “endemic” bribery involving top executives and public officials.

According to The Guardian, Europe’s largest aerospace multinational admitted to five counts of failing to prevent bribery.

The paper reports that it was found to have used “a network of secret agents to pay large-scale backhanders to officials in foreign countries to land high-value contracts”.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Airbus agreed to pay France €2.08bn (£1.7bn) and the US €525m (£442m) to bring to a close a four-year investigation into bribery, City A.M. reports. It was also ordered to pay a €983m (£827m) fine in the UK.

The probe saw Airbus hand over 30m documents, with investigators finding malpractice in more than a dozen international markets. The Financial Times reports that payments were often made through shell companies, “working for an autonomous strategy and marketing unit once described by former chief executive Tom Enders as ‘bullshit castle’”.

The fine breaks the previous record of £2bn paid by Brazilian engineering group Odebrecht to end bribery investigations. It will be paid through a “deferred prosecution agreement”, which effectively acts as a suspended sentence whereby Airbus avoids any criminal convictions.

“The deal, effectively a corporate plea bargain, means Airbus has avoided criminal prosecution that would have risked it being barred from public contracts in the United States and European Union - a massive blow for a major defense and space supplier,” Reuters reports.

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

For a round-up of the most important business stories and tips for the week’s best shares - try The Week magazine. Get your first six issues free–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Airbus chief executive Guillaume Faury, who was appointed last April, said the settlements drew a line under the issue and would allow the company “to move forward and further grow in a sustainable and responsible way”.

“Airbus will remain under surveillance by authorities for three years and any violation could result in prosecution,” the FT notes. ”A conviction would result in Airbus being banned from bidding for government contracts in several countries.”

To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
William Gritten

William Gritten is a London-born, New York-based strategist and writer focusing on politics and international affairs.