Airbus fined US$126 million over sale of missiles to Taiwan

Europe’s largest aerospace company says subsidiary behind the contract, Matra Defense, is ‘reviewing’ the penalty

South China Morning Post
Date: Sunday, 14 January, 2018

Airbus said on Saturday it had been ordered to pay €104 million (US$126 million) in fines over a missile sale to Taiwan in 1992, the latest French company to reach a settlement over disputes arising from one of the country’s biggest ever arms sales.

The scandal around French arms sales to the island in the early 1990s was one of a series of cases that underpinned accusations of widespread corruption during the final years of late French president Francois Mitterand.

Airbus, which this week agreed to sell mainland China 184 A320 planes by 2020, said in a statement it had been ordered to pay the fine “for a complaint of breach of contract concerning the sale of missiles”.    [FULL  STORY]