Berlin (AFP)

Airbus is faced in Germany with suspicions of espionage of some of its employees on contracts of the German army, a case that is added to other investigations aimed at the methods of the aircraft manufacturer.

Apparently confidential documents relating to Bundeswehr projects were clearly in the hands of several employees of the European group.

The Munich prosecutor's office on Thursday confirmed that AFP has opened an investigation at this stage 17 people on the suspicion of "treason of corporate secrets", "incentive" to do so and use of these documents.

Airbus, for its part, said in a statement that it had reported the case to the German authorities on "possible infringements committed by several employees on certain documents in connection with two upcoming calls for tenders from the German government" in the field. secure and secret communications.

"Some of our employees had documents they did not have to have," told AFP a source within the aircraft manufacturer, according to which the irregularity was discovered a few weeks ago .

The case concerns, according to the German press, the arms branch of Airbus, Airbus Defense and Space (ADS) and in particular its location in Munich, which groups together the sensitive activities of cybersecurity and encrypted communication.

The daily Bild claims that employees in sight have been suspended and files and computers seized.

The German Ministry of Defense, for its part, said it was "clarifying the nature of the documents" and said it could not exclude "whether it was documents that Airbus was allowed to see".

- "To do the housework" -

German Liberal MP Alexander Müller said it was "problematic for defense employees to know the Bundeswehr's requirements in advance", in particular in terms of quotation and offer.

"Airbus must now explain and do a bit of housekeeping", demands the green MP Tobias Lindner, who believes that after such a discovery "a company should in principle immediately be excluded from bidding".

The German Ministry of Defense is much more cautious. One of its spokesmen said that at this stage "it is impossible" to say whether or not this case will have an impact on its tendering procedures.

This is not the first time that Airbus, emblem of European industrial and military cooperation, especially Franco-German, is facing suspicions of justice related to contracts.

Airbus is the target of investigations by the French National Financial Prosecutor (PNF) in France and the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) in Great Britain for irregularities in transactions, facts he himself denounced in 2016.

In Germany, the aircraft manufacturer was fined 81.25 million euros last year, which allowed it to close an alleged corruption investigation into the sale of Eurofighter to Austria. 2003.

Lastly, in the "Kazakhgate" case, concerning suspicions of "bribery of foreign public officials", Airbus was placed in June under the status of assisted witness, an intermediary between the witness and the accused.

In these different cases, Airbus played the same strategy: self-disclosure. This practice, experienced by other groups in corruption cases, such as Rolls Royce, puts the group at risk, particularly in France and the United Kingdom for criminal prosecution.

Airbus has undertaken a major renewal of its management team with the internal replacement last spring of the German Tom Enders by the former head of commercial aircraft business, Guillaume Faury, at the head of the group.

© 2019 AFP