Corruption allegations have lingered around Austria's decision to buy Eurofighter aircraft since the deal was signed in 2003. Nearly a decade later, prosecutors are building a case that could lead to charges against officials involved in the deal with the European consortium that produces the jets.
"The basic suspicion that the awarding of the contract to the Eurofighter consortium was tainted with corruption has always been there," a source in the Austrian legal system told dpa. "The basic question is why did this money flow, to where, and who received it," he said. At issue are the offset agreements for Austrian companies who were supposed to deliver goods and services for the Eurofighter group - EADS, Alenia Aeronautica and BAE Systems - as part of the overall deal.
Of the total 4 billion euros (5.1 billion dollars) earmarked for such offset contracts, investigators have questions about 100 million euros that flowed from EADS through a suspiciously complex network of intermediaries in Austria and other countries. Prosecutors have been looking into whether the 100 million euros found its way to decision makers as a reward for choosing Eurofighter planes. For a long time, they got nowhere. But over the past year, the probe has gained momentum. Austrian authorities were able to interview a man Italian prosecutors suspected of fraud and who revealed he had worked with EADS. His testimony jump-started the Eurofighter case.
Recently, investigators searched the offices of Eurofighter's major German stakeholder, EADS, in Bavaria, as well as the premises of suspects in Austria and Switzerland. Bank accounts have been examined in order to gain insight into money flows.
German prosecutors are also probing around a dozen people for breach of trust, suspecting them of having used EADS money as bribes. In Austria, prosecutors are analysing money flows from the Eurofighter group and EADS to middlemen - and are trying to find out who the beneficiaries were. In 2002, the Austrian coalition government that included the late Joerg Haider's Freedom Party decided against US and Swedish fighter planes, awarding instead the 2-billion-euro contract to Eurofighter. The initial order for 18 jets was later whittled down to 15 for cost reasons.
Among the beneficiaries of the Eurofighter offset agreement was a technology related foundation set up by Haider. What exactly the foundation did in return for receiving the money remains unclear, senior justice ministry official Christian Pilnacek said in a television interview on Monday.