VIENNA, (MILLAT/APP/AFP) – Austria said Thursday that it will sue
European aerospace giant Airbus over a $2-billion sale of Eurofighter jets that has long been plagued by allegations of kickbacks.
“We will file a lawsuit against Airbus,” defence ministry spokesman
Michael Bauer told AFP.
The findings of the government investigation into the 2003 deal worth
around 2 billion euros ($2.1 billion) were set to be presented in Vienna later on Thursday.
In a statement the ministry accused Airbus and the Eurofigher
consortium of “deliberately misleading the Austrian Republic since 2002 on the real price, the capabilities of delivery and its equipment”.
The European Union country’s largest-ever defence deal had been
plagued by scandals for years.
According to the Austria Press Agency, the probe found that Airbus
had misled Austria over the sales price of its 15 fighter jets.
Austria is now claiming damages of at least 183.4 million euros, APA
reports.
Airbus said in a statement sent to AFP that it wasn’t aware of the
Austrian defence ministry’s findings and had received “no details” regarding the lawsuit.
However it said that Airbus has been “cooperating with the
authorities in recent years, for example through its own enquiries”.