U.S. Congressman Alleges Bribery at Airbus

U.S. Representative Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan) (see here) has alleged that Airbus and its parent company European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company ("EADS") pay bribes in order to get business.

In a recent article in Human Events Online (see here, scroll down a bit), Tiahrt states that "agents for the Airbus company have openly said that yes we do use bribery, in fact we budget for it."

Tiahrt's accusation follows an October 2009 letter (see here) he sent to the Deputy Secretary of Defense in which he stated that "[i]t is well documented that EADS has bribed foreign officials in buying products instead of American products." Tiahrt states that "EADS has been subject to bribe-related scandals in Belgium, Canada, India, Kuwait, Switzerland and Syria." He further notes that the "[t]he US intelligence community has characterized EADS as the most corrupt corporation in the world" and urges the Deputy Secretary of Defense to read the CIA briefing on EADS.

Tiahrt's main concern appears to be that "[f]oreign companies, such as EADS, do not have to comply with the [FCPA]."

For the record, I am not so sure that Tiahrt is correct. For instance, EADS (the corporate parent of Airbus) has ADRs registered with the SEC. (see here). Further, Airbus has several business locations in the U.S. (see here).

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Staying on the topic of foreign companies, a German court recently ordered two subsidiaries of MAN SE (see here) to pay $221 million in fines in connection with a wide-ranging investigation concerning bribes paid to secure sales of trucks and buses. MAN's shares traded in the U.S. "over the counter" on the "pink sheets." (see here).