France: After UK, France opens probe into Airbus jet deals

Airbus's legal entanglements deepened on Thursday when French authorities opened a preliminary investigation into suspected irregularities over the use of third-party agents to win jetliner contracts, expanding a UK corruption probe. The European planemaker said Thursday it had been informed that France's financial prosecutor, or Parquet National Financier, had teamed up with Britain's Serious Fraud Office, which is investigating suspected fraud, bribery and corruption. "Airbus has now been informed ... that the two authorities will act in coordination going forward," the aerospace group said. "Airbus will cooperate fully with both authorities." The decision by the French and UK investigators to cooperate in their probes is unusual. It could provide a high-profile test of a 2016 anti-graft law which introduces for the first time into France the possibility of a "deferred prosecution agreement," a type of settlement often favoured in corruption probes and already used on occasion by Britain's SFO.<br/>