Airbus records €1.36 billion losses after corruption scandal

Plane maker, Airbus has recorded a net loss € 1.36 billion in the 2019 financial year after paying record fines to the US, UK and France in a Deferred Prosecution Agreement over how it paid bribes to secure mouthwatering deals in 20 countries including Ghana.

The loss according to dw.com, loss comes a year after the company reported a whopping net profit of € 3 billion in just 2018. It’s the corporate giant first loss after eleven years in operation.

“The plane-maker, also a major defense and space supplier, agreed to pay a record $4 billion (€3.6 billion) after reaching settlements with investigators in Britain, France and the United States to end a probe that began four years ago.

French and British authorities have been investigating Airbus for alleged corruption over jet sales for more than a decade while the US has probed the plane-maker over suspected violations of US export controls,” dw had reported earlier this month.

The scandal has had reverberations around the world especially in countries that have been mentioned in the agreement. Executives of the company have resigned while investigations have been in countries that had dealings with Airbus.

Ghana’s connection

It would be recalled that late last month, there were revelations by plane manufacturer Airbus SE, that it had an elaborate scheme that paid some €5 million to officials under the erstwhile National Democratic Congress (NDC) government, mainly through a close relative to a key elected government official at the time the bribe was paid, some Ghanaians who are curious to know the officials involved are digging deeper into clues provided by the company in court documents.

A UK court ruling of the incident reads in part, “Between 2009 and 2015 an Airbus defence company engaged Intermediary 5, a close relative of a high ranking elected Ghanaian Government official (Government Official 1) as its BP in respect of the proposed sale of three military transport aircraft to the Government of Ghana. A number of Airbus employees knew that Intermediary 5 was a close relative of Government Official 1, who was a key decision maker in respect of the proposed sales. A number of Airbus employees made or promised success-based commission payments of approximately €5 million to Intermediary 5. False documentation was created by or with the agreement of Airbus employees in order to support and disguise these payments. The payments were intended to induce or reward “improper favour” by Government Official 1 towards Airbus.”