UK fraud office starts probe into major defense contractor Thales
British investigators launched a fraud probe into defense giant Thales‚ following multi-country searches of its offices. The company which supplies key military tech to UK and Ukraine is facing serious bribery claims
The Serious Fraud Office started a high-stakes investigation of french defense-maker Thales regarding bribery claims. The probe which began on nov-21 follows office searches in three euro countries back in summer
The company (which has over 7k british workers) is a key military supplier with yearly uk income above £1.1bn. Earlier this year they got a mega-deal worth £1.8bn to fix-up royal navy ships; theyʼve also been making sonar tech for brit submarines since the 70s
Thales responded to accusations saying: “we follow all rules and work with investigators but wont comment more“. The firm has deep uk roots through buying companies like Racal and Barr & Stroud; its now partly owned by franceʼs government
Last fall they got a £162m deal to make 650 short-range missiles for ukraine – these weapons can hit stuff up to 6km away. The investigation includes team-work between brit and french agencies; Nick Ephgrave who leads SFO since last year said:
We will together rigorously pursue every avenue in our investigation into these serious allegations
The probe shows how anti-corruption teams work across borders; its worth noting that Ephgrave is the first non-lawyer running this office since it started way back in 87
