Serious Fraud Office investigates Airbus for alleged corruption

The SFO is investigating alleged irregularities to third party consultants and inaccuracies in applications for UK government credit guarantees.

In April, British authorities halted export credit applications to Airbus, later Germany and France also halted finance to the aircraft manufacturer.

Export credits are underwritten loans offered to foreign buyers of British products, in order to support exporters. Airbus uses the loans from government agency UK Export Finance (UKEF) to finance 6% of its deliveries.

The France-headquartered company said it is co-operating with the SFO, which initially launched the investigation in July.

Airbus said last week it had discovered inaccuracies in applications for export support.

On Sunday, Airbus confirmed in a statement it was being investigated by the SFO "into allegations of fraud, bribery and corruption in the civil aviation business of Airbus group relating to irregularities concerning third party consultants".

In 2014, the SFO began investigating the French aeroplane maker's operations in Saudi Arabia, examining possible corruption in Airbus's GPT Special Project Management, a subsidiary that provides communications services for the Saudi National Guard.

The investigation, Reuters said, concerns allegations of bribery in connection with a $3.3bn contract to provide communications and intranet services for the Saudi National Guard is ongoing.

Shares in Airbus were down 0.37% to 50.81 cents at 1051 CEST.