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The Austrian Defence Ministry have announced plans to sue Airbus (EPA:AIR) and the Eurofighter consortium, after the company were found to have overcharged the country for Eurofighter warplanes.
Austria’s defence ministry launched an investigation into the deal, worth 2 billion euros, in 2012, after bribery allegations were passed against Airbus. In a report issued yesterday, the Austrian government concluded that it had been misled over the purchase price, and that Airbus and the consortium illegally charged nearly 10 percent of the purchase price of 1.96 billion euros for so-called ‘offset’ deals.
Airbus vehemently denied the allegations, saying in a statement: “The publication of criminal charges against a listed company by means of a press conference … is not acceptable for Airbus and can only be described as unprofessional.”
“We have received neither notification of a criminal complaint nor any other information regarding this matter or the ministry’s accusations. These new accusations have never been raised before; we thus cannot see any foundation in particular for the allegations of bad faith and fraud. Rather, they appear to be contrived, and we deny them vigorously.”
It also called the lawsuit a “a political manoeuvre”.
Defence Minister Hans Peter Doskozil broke the news to a news conference in Vienna, saying that “Austria would not have decided to purchase the Eurofighter in 2003 without the fraudulent deception”.
He added that the German Eurofighter planes were exceedingly expensive to operate, and that Austria would work towards finding a cheaper solution.
If successful, Austria’s lawsuit could amount to around 1.1 billion euros.
Airbus shares are currently trading about level, down 0.43 percent at 65.49 (0928GMT).