The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority announced the launch of a joint investigation with the Parquet National Financier (PNF) into suspected corruption at French high-tech group Thales, according to Euractiv.
Serious Fraud Office (SFO) Director Nick Ephgrave commented on the situation:
We will together rigorously pursue every avenue in our investigation into these serious allegations.
Thales confirmed that the PNF and the SFO had launched an investigation into four of its facilities in France and the UK. According to the SFO, Paris-based Thales employs more than 7,000 people at 16 facilities in the UK.
The investigation began “in July 2024 on charges of bribery of a foreign public official, influence trafficking, the handling of stolen goods and money laundering,” according to a judicial source. The investigation is being conducted “as part of a joint investigation team” with the SFO under the coordination of Eurojust.
The Financial Prosecutor’s Office also launched a preliminary investigation, which came to light in May 2023, to probe whether the arms group used bribery to win a contract to refurbish Mirage-2000 fighter jets in India.
Another investigation, launched in December 2020, covers the transfer of a former employee of the French multinational corporation to a UN post. A separate trial may also be ordered against Thales over suspected corruption in the sale of submarines to Malaysia in 2002.
