Airbus Group has been placed under investigation by the UK’s Serious Fraud Office over allegations of corruption in its civil aviation division.

The matter centres on “irregularities” in regard to third-party consultants, says the company.

Airbus had disclosed in April that it had raised the matter of inconsistencies in applications for export credit.

UK Export Finance, the country’s export credit agency, subsequently held back from considering Airbus requests, while German authorities stopped providing guarantees while the UK situation was clarified.

Airbus Group says it has been told by the Serious Fraud Office that a criminal inquiry has been opened into the allegations of “fraud, bribery and corruption” in its civil aviation business. The company says it “continues to co-operate” with the authority.

Source: Cirium Dashboard