It is a flagship of French industry which finds itself in the net of justice, currently targeted by several investigations for acts of corruption on contracts concluded abroad. According to information BFMTV revealed on June 29, several searches took place this week at the Thales group, the world leader in high technologies specializing in defense, aerospace and cybersecurity.
They took place on Wednesday June 26 and Friday June 28, in France, the Netherlands and Spain, as part of “two preliminary investigations”, according to a source interviewed by AFP. Suspicions of corruption relate to a 2008 contract for the sale of submarines and the construction of a naval base in Brazil, for which a first investigation was opened at the end of 2016, “counts of corruption of a foreign public official, private corruption, criminal conspiracy and laundering of these offenses,” according to the same judicial source.
Many suspicions
There is also a second investigation, opened in 2023, into charges of corruption and influence peddling of a foreign public official, private corruption, criminal conspiracy, money laundering and concealment of these offenses, this time relating to different sales operations of military and civilian equipment abroad,” she added.
The operations “were carried out by 65 investigators from OCLCIFF (Central Office for the Fight against Corruption and Financial and Tax Offenses, Editor’s note), 12 magistrates from the PNF (National Financial Prosecutor’s Office), with the collaboration of the Dutch and Spanish judicial authorities , and the coordination of Eurojust”, the European judicial agency, according to this judicial source, according to whom the “investigations are continuing”. Contacted by BFMTV, Thales confirmed that “searches took place” and said “it is cooperating with the competent authorities”.
Another trial required
This is not the first time that the company has had to deal with the law. On June 20, the French National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF) requested a trial against Thales, another company (DNCI), three former managers and an intermediary, for suspicion of corruption in the sale of submarines to Malaysia in 2002. The company is also suspected of paying bribes to former South African President Jacob Zuma. The financial prosecutor’s office has also opened a preliminary investigation to verify whether the arms group used corruption, which it denies, to obtain a contract to renovate Mirage-2000 fighter planes in India.
Established in 68 countries worldwide, the group with 81,000 employees produces radars, but also shells, munitions, satellites and anti-aircraft defense systems that it delivers to the four corners of the world. Thales is owned for a quarter by the French State and for another quarter by the aircraft manufacturer Dassault Aviation, the rest being divided into floating shareholdings. In 2023, the group recorded record results with 18.3 billion euros in sales, driven by the defense sectors, which benefit from the increase in military budgets around the world, as well as by civil aeronautics, in full post-pandemic rebound.