NAN-F-23
Deal
Vienna, Feb. 16, 2017 (dpa/NAN) Austria filed a lawsuit against Eurofighter and its main shareholder, Airbus, on Thursday, alleging inflated pricing of its fighter jets, the Defence Ministry told dpa, confirming media reports.
Austria alleges intentional and fraudulent deception and demands millions of euros in compensation, based on new findings by Austrian investigators.
Corruption allegations regarding the 2003 deal to buy 18 fighter jets have been circulating for years, and legal authorities in several countries, including in Germany, have conducted investigations.
Austria had initially agreed to a price of around 2.1 billion dollars, while the consortium that built the Eurofighters pledged to award 4 billion euros of contracts to Austrian companies.
In 2007, both sides reached a settlement to reduce the number of jets to 15 and to lower the sales price by 250 million euros. (dpa/NAN)
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Edited by Celine-Damilola Oyewole/Abdullahi Yusuf