Defence contractor BAE Systems is to pay additional fines of up to $79m (£48m) for breaking US regulations governing the export of fighter planes abroad.
The group – Britain’s biggest manufacturer and Europe’s biggest defence company – says the new fine is part of a civil settlement with the US Department of State.
“The company looks forward to working with the State Department to ensure that it continues to make progress towards achieving its goal as being as widely recognised for responsible conduct as it is for high quality products and advanced technologies,” said BAE chairman Dick Olver.
The latest fine, from the US State Department, will be paid over three years. It could be reduced by $10m (£6,09m) because of the cost to the company of the stricter export control compliance measures it must follow as a result of the criminal prosecution. This latest fine follows a deal struck by the group last year to pay penalties of $450m (£275m) in the US and Britain following long-running corruption investigations on both sides of the Atlantic into defence deals in Saudi Arabia, Tanzania, Sweden, the Czech Republic and Hungary.
