In Focus Risk
The Airbus board has decided that there
were benefits to be had from doing all it can to show it is now a ‘new’ company with few links to the wrongdoing that has caused it such problems.
Successful approach Judging from the deal it could be said that it is an approach that has worked. While it is set to pay a hefty financial
amount to make amends for its behaviour it has avoided the worst-case scenario of a prosecution. This could, therefore, be viewed as one
more case of one of the big boys being able to escape prosecution by jumping through hoops and opening up its large corporate wallet to avoid a conviction that could have severely hampered its ability to compete in the marketplace. But there are aspects of this case that mark
it out as being different from many of those where DPAs have been concluded.
Political factors Like many of those, this was a major investigation into a huge company. But in this case there have been more political factors at play. Airbus is a multinational aerospace
giant employing 130,000 – including approximately 10,000 in the UK – so anything that happens to it can have implications for both Europe’s economy and its defence capability. And the timeline for this investigation and its conclusion has run parallel to
Brexit, which carries its own huge political and economic ramifications. It is hard, therefore, not to come to the
This could, therefore, be viewed as one more case of one of the big boys being able to escape prosecution by jumping through hoops and opening up its large corporate wallet to avoid a conviction that could have severely hampered its ability to compete in the marketplace
February 2020
conclusion that there may have been political pressure from one or more sides for this investigation to be concluded with a particular outcome at a particular time. But while it remains to be seen whether
the SFO is able to successfully prosecute individuals alleged to have been behind the wrongdoing at Airbus, it should be remembered that the SFO may also still bring charges against individuals regarding Airbus subsidiary GPT. GPT has been under investigation for
eight years over alleged payments made to obtain a £2bn UK government contract
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to provide services for the Saudi National Guard.
Corporate controversy The aerospace industry is rarely short of corporate controversy. The Rolls-Royce DPA in relation to allegations of systematic bribery over many years was an indicator of this. And any review of Boeing’s activities in
the last 30 years has to include its repeated payment of settlements and its loss of contracts due to corporate wrongdoing. But with the Airbus investigation there
appear to have been factors that have distinguished it from many corporate investigations. CCR
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