Airbus faces UK criminal probe over potential export control breach

Airbus is facing a criminal investigation in Britain into potential violations of export control rules involving several of its British entities, the aerospace group said on Tuesday. The investigation emerged in footnotes to the company's half-yearly earnings, which said Airbus was fully cooperating with the probe by Britain's Revenue and Customs agency (HMRC). "Airbus is working with all relevant authorities to ensure full remediation of all identified deficiencies," a spokesperson said in response to a Reuters query about the filing, adding that it was not expected to have a material financial impact. A spokesperson for HMRC declined comment, citing a policy of never discussing ongoing or specific investigations. Airbus said the decision to launch the probe followed an audit carried out by British export control authorities in 2022. The British probe comes around nine months after the U.S. State Department formally lifted the threat of charges over alleged violations of export rules in the United States. In January 2020, Airbus reached a trio of deferred prosecution agreements and agreed to pay record fines totalling E3.6b following broad investigations in Britain, France and the United States into allegations of corruption. As part of the settlements, Airbus agreed to pay E9m and set up a three-year monitoring plan to resolve findings by the State Department that Airbus had violated U.S. International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR).<br/>