Airbus agrees to pay record $3.9 billion to settle bribery claims

The penalties to be paid to the U.S. total about $582 million and cover violations of the Foreign and Corrupt Practices Act and the International Traffic and Arms Regulations related to the sale of military technologies to foreign armed forces.

The U.S. Department of Justice said that from 2008 until at least 2015 Airbus participated in a scheme to offer and pay bribes to decision makers and other influencers, including foreign government officials, to win business from both privately owned businesses and entities that were state-owned and controlled. Part of the conspiracy involved marking payments to a business partner in China that were to be used to pay bribes to government officials in connection with the sales of Airbus airliners to state-owned airlines. To hide the payments and its connection with the business partner, Airbus made payments to a bank account in Hong Kong in the name of a company controlled by another business partner, the DOJ said.

Airbus and Boeing compete fiercely for business from China, which is expected to become the world’s largest aviation market in the near future. Boeing projects that nearly 8,100 new airliners will be delivered to Chinese carriers in the next 20 years.

France, the U.S. and U.K. all have agreed to suspend or defer prosecution for three years, and prosecution will be discontinued after the three-year period if Airbus abides by all the terms of agreements with each country, including cooperation with any ongoing investigations. Anti-corruption authorities in France will monitor the company’s compliance with the agreements.

“The settlements we have reached today turn the page on unacceptable business practices from the past,” said Airbus Chairman Denis Ranque in a statement. “The strengthening of our compliance program at Airbus is designed to ensure that such misconduct cannot happen again.”