21 Nov 2024
Serious Fraud Office announces bribery investigation into defence firm
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has launched an investigation into suspected bribery and corruption at multi-national aviation and defence electronics group Thales.
The Thales Group is headquartered in Paris and its subsidiary Thales UK employs over 7,000 staff in the UK across 16 sites.
Investigators from the SFO and French authority Parquet National Financier (PNF) have informed the company of the investigation.
The SFO and PNF are conducting a joint investigation in their respective jurisdictions.
Director of the Serious Fraud Office, Nick Ephgrave QPM, said:
“Working collaboratively with our international partners is a crucial factor in the fight against international corruption and with this case I hope to reinforce the SFO and PNF’s long-standing relationship, built on mutual cooperation and shared success.
“We will together rigorously pursue every avenue in our investigation into these serious allegations.”
Contact Information
Aster Ferguson
Communication Officer (News)
Serious Fraud Office
aster.ferguson@sfo.gov.uk
Notes to editors
- As this is an ongoing investigation, we are not currently able to provide further details.
- This is the sixth new investigation announced since Nick Ephgrave joined as Director. We are not able to confirm how many other cases have been formally opened but remain covert, in order to protect our investigations.
- The SFO and PNF cooperated recently on the Airbus investigation, which resulted in a €3.6 billion global penalty for the company – the largest ever for international bribery.
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