Austria said Thursday that it has sued European aerospace giant Airbus over a $2-billion sale of Eurofighter jets that has long been plagued by allegations of kickbacks. A government probe concluded that the Airbus and Eurofighter consortium had "deliberately misled the Austrian Republic on the real price, delivery capabilities and its equipment" of the deal signed in 2003.
"Austria would have never decided to buy the Eurofighter jets in 2003 without the fraudulent deception by Airbus and Eurofighter," Defence Minister Hans Peter Doskozil said.
EU member Austria is seeking damages of up to 1.1 billion euros ($1.16 million) for its largest-ever defence deal, worth around 2 billion euros ($2.1 billion).
According to the "Task Force Eurofighter" report presented in Vienna, Airbus knew that it would not be able to meet the delivery deadline of the 15 planes. The five-year-investigation also found that Austria had been overcharged for costs that allegedly included backhanders.
"The two companies never informed Austria that the 2-billion-euro deal would include 183.4 million euros of legal but also criminal fees," Doskozil told reporters.
Ahead of the report's release, Airbus said in a statement sent to AFP that it was not aware of the Austrian findings and had received "no details" regarding the lawsuit.