Airbus settles corruption probe for 3.6 billion Euros

After the conclusive evidence from the French, British and US authorities European aircraft manufacturer Airbus has agreed to pay a sum of 3.6 billion Euros on allegations of bribery and corruption.

 The company which is based in Toulouse said that the deal is subject to getting approved by the courts and legal officials from all the three countries.

Allegations have been made that the company had used middlemen in selling its planes. The case hearing will be taking place on January 31^st.

In a statement released by the firm it said that it had agreed to the acquisitions made by the French Parquet National Financier, UK Serious Fraud Office and the US authorities.

The authorities in the UK and later the French authorities opened the investigation against the company back in 2016. The allegations were against improper ways of doing business and allegations of bribery, fraud and corruption in civil aviation business.

Airbus has more than 130,000 employees globally. In the UK alone there are 10,000 employees. The authorities have asked Airbus to produce the documents of its overseas agents to gain access to the information and the amount paid to these agents.

After the investigation probe was launched the authorities froze all the credit application for Airbus but it was reversed in 2018.

Export credit is used by governments to support exporters and backing them to get the loans from banks. This helps them to sell the products outside of UK and increase their global sales.

It is a highly successful way of helping the airline companies in dire need of cash to buy new Airbus planes.

It has been found that Airbus has not provided any information regarding the use of middle men to confirm such deals.

The US officials also think that Airbus has violated the arms export rules and requested information from the UK and the French authorities.