Portugal's prosecutors investigate lease of Airbus planes by airline TAP

Portuguese prosecutors have launched an investigation into a complex leasing deal for 53 Airbus aircraft by flag carrier TAP in 2015, and two people familiar with the probe told Reuters it covers suspicions of illegal payments. It is the latest probe into Airbus' historic business dealings following a record $4b corruption settlement with French, British and US authorities in 2020, and a related $14m French settlement late last year. Airbus exited three years of outside monitoring at the end of January and says it has undergone sweeping changes including a new system of compliance, which Chief Executive Guillaume Faury said on Thursday was one of the company's main focuses. The leasing contract under investigation dates back to the time TAP, now again fully-state-owned, had just been privatised, passing control to the Atlantic Gateway venture between American-Brazilian aviation tycoon David Neeleman and Portuguese entrepreneur Humberto Pedrosa. As part of the contract, TAP was to give up a lease of 12 Airbus A350 aircraft and start a new one for 15 A320neos, 25 A321neos and 13 A330-900neos, to be delivered in the following years, the sources said. Last October, former Infrastructure Minister Pedro Nuno Santos told a parliamentary committee that TAP had ordered an audit of the leasing contract, alleging it was paying more for the airplanes than the market value. News outlet ECO reported last week the additional costs amounted to $254m. Without disclosing details, the minister said the government had decided to forward the audit to the public prosecutor's office, which confirmed this week it had taken up the case. "It is under investigation and subject to the secrecy of justice," it said.<br/>