Airbus SE is being forced by French courts to pay millions of dollars to partners who it alleges used corruption to broker aircraft deals in strategic countries.
Published on Bloomberg Technology | By Ania Nussbaum and Gaspard Sebag
In one case, the manufacturer was made to settle an outstanding $825,000 bill from a go-between that helped secure sales in China even after Airbus said it had evidence the business relationship was “tarnished” by corruption, according to an unreported ruling released earlier this month.
Airbus argued this “called for suspending all payments.”
The court proceedings have put Airbus in a seemingly contradictory situation. The planemaker is under investigation for paying bribes to secure overseas contracts and says it’s cooperating and turning over evidence from an internal investigation. But judges have stymied the company’s efforts to cut off brokers who it suspects have facilitated questionable payments.
Court says planemaker failed to prove corruption by partners, as a result, Airbus faces court orders to pay intermediaries.
Read entire article To Pay or Not to Pay: Airbus Faces Dilemma as Bribery Probes Loom | Bloomberg Technology