The European aircraft manufacturer Airbus announced Tuesday that it has signed an "agreement in principle" with the French, British and American authorities, in particular in the face of allegations of "corruption".
"Airbus confirms that it has reached an agreement in principle with the French National Financial Prosecutor's Office, the British Serious Fraud Office and the United States," he said in a statement.
"These agreements are concluded within the framework of investigations into allegations of corruption as well as into compliance with the American regulations on the commercialization of weapons (ITAR)", he continued, without however specifying the possible financial terms.
More than 3 billion euros to end litigation?
The Financial Times reported on Monday that the European aircraft manufacturer could spend more than 3 billion euros to end the disputes, citing sources familiar with the matter.
Airbus was particularly targeted by investigations into transaction irregularities first in France and the United Kingdom, facts which it had itself denounced in 2016 to the judicial authorities concerned to protect itself from possible prosecution.
At the end of 2018, it was the turn of the American prosecutor's office, the Department of Justice (DoJ), to investigate the European group. Airbus had discovered in 2013 that a number of transactions carried out by an internal entity, called the Strategy and Marketing Organization (SMO), were not compliant.
He had notably found contradictions in the amounts of consultant commissions and established at the end of 2015 that the commercial agents in certain transactions had not been identified with the export assistance agencies.
Agreements that "remain subject to approval"
The agreements concluded "remain subject to the approval" of the authorities of the three countries, the statement added, adding that the group will not "comment on the details of its discussions with the authorities responsible for the investigation".
Contacted by AFP Tuesday morning, the Serious fraud office (SFO) in the United Kingdom declined to comment on the information.
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