(Alliance News) - Airbus SE on Tuesday confirmed that it has reached agreement in principle with the French Parquet National Financier, the UK Serious Fraud Office and US authorities.
"These agreements are made in in the context of investigations into allegations of bribery and corruption as well as compliance with the US International Traffic in Arms Regulations," Airbus said.
Airbus said it did not disclose any details of its discussions with investigative authorities for legal reasons.
The Financial Times reported on Monday that Airbus was on the brink of settling a bribery and corruption probe with regulators in the UK, France and the US, in a move that could see the aerospace group pay billions of dollars in penalties.
A deal is expected in the coming days, according to people familiar with the matter, the FT had noted, with analysts forecasting fines of more than EUR3.0 billion to follow the complex negotiations between the three agencies.
For Airbus, the deal would mark the end of a corruption probe lasting nearly four years that has claimed the jobs of some senior executives, even though they were not implicated in any wrongdoing. The board took the view that the company would have a better chance of winning a settlement if an entirely new senior management team was put in place. This was helped by the fact that several executives were approaching retirement age. Tom Enders, chief executive, and Fabrice Brégier, chief operating officer, both stepped down last spring.
The Serious Fraud Office's investigation was launched in 2016 after Airbus revealed that it had uncovered discrepancies in disclosures about third-party consultants used on certain aircraft deals. Parquet National Financier, the French regulator, launched a probe the following year, and the US Department of Justice opened an investigation in 2018, the FT reported.
Since corporate plea deals were introduced to the UK in 2014, Standard Bank, Sarclad, Rolls-Royce, Tesco, Serco and Güralp Systems have all admitted failures and paid fines in exchange for avoiding a criminal conviction, the FT noted.
https://www.ft.com/content/cb81a5fc-4138-11ea-a047-eae9bd51ceba
Airbus shares closed 4.4% lower in Paris at EUR132.90
By Loreta Juodagalvyte; loretajuodagalvyte@alliancenews.com
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