Paris (AFP)

Airbus announced Tuesday that it has reached an "agreement in principle" with the British, French and American judicial authorities, which should result in significant financial penalties, in order to avoid prosecution for alleged violations of anti-corruption laws.

This affair, which threatens the giant with 134,000 employees and large net contributor to the foreign trade of France and Germany, had contributed to the change of the management team of the European aircraft manufacturer.

"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 marketing of weapons (ITAR)", he continued, without however specifying the financial terms.

The Financial Times, citing analysts, reported on Monday that the European aircraft manufacturer could spend more than 3 billion euros to end the disputes.

This amount, if confirmed, corresponds to the 2018 net profit of the European aircraft manufacturer. Airbus is due to present its annual results on February 13 in Toulouse.

The case arose out of the self-reporting of irregularities in 2016 by the owner of the aircraft manufacturer at the time, Tom Enders.

Approved by the group's executive committee and board of directors, the decision to denounce themselves to the British and French judicial authorities was intended to protect the group from possible lawsuits, particularly in the United States, thanks to the provisions contained in legislation British (UK Bribery Act) and French (Sapin II law), according to a source familiar with the matter.

Airbus compliance departments discovered "inaccuracies and omissions in the information provided" to British, French and German export credit insurance agencies to guarantee certain contracts, Airbus explains in its financial report 2018.

- Consultants' commissions -

In particular, Airbus noted in 2013 that a number of transactions carried out by an internal entity, called the Strategy and Marketing Organization (SMO), were not in compliance.

He had found contradictions in the amounts of consultancy commissions and established at the end of 2015 that the commercial agents in certain transactions had not been identified with the export assistance agencies.

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) opened an investigation in August 2016, the French National Financial Prosecutor's Office (PNF) in the summer of the same year.

The following year, it was the turn of the United States Department of Justice (DoJ) to open an investigation into the facts reported to the SFO and PNF. Airbus concluding its contracts in dollars, the threat of a US criminal conviction could prove devastating for the aircraft manufacturer.

At the same time, the American justice system suspected Airbus of not having obtained the necessary authorizations to export armaments containing American components.

The agreements concluded by Airbus "remain subject to the approval of the French and British courts and by the American court and regulator", specifies the American aircraft manufacturer.

In France, this procedure which makes it possible to negotiate a fine without going to trial leads to a judicial agreement of public interest (CJIP). It was used for the first time in 2017 with HSBC bank

This strategy was tested by the British engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce, who was sentenced in early 2017 to pay a fine of 763 million euros to the British, American and Brazilian judicial authorities in order to settle a corruption case abroad after having himself denounced the facts to the SFO at the end of 2012.

Requested by AFP, the SFO and the PNF did not react immediately.

© 2020 AFP