Police search offices of French military manufacturer Thales in three countries

PARIS - French defence group Thales faced fresh questions on June 29 after police in three countries searched its offices this week as part of two separate corruption investigations, a judicial source told AFP.

Officers in France, the Netherlands and Spain carried out the searches between June 26 and 28, said the source, confirming a report from French broadcaster BFMTV.

The police searches were triggered by two separate investigations, the source added.

The first, opened at the end of 2016, into suspected corruption of a foreign official, criminal association and money laundering involved the sale of submarines and the construction of naval base in Brazil.

The second, opened in June 2023, concerned similar offences linked to the sale of military and civilian equipment abroad, the source added.

“Thales confirms that the searches have taken place,” the company told AFP on June 29. “The group is cooperating with the competent authorities.”

During an official visit to Rio de Janeiro in 2008, France’s then president Nicolas Sarkozy signed a contract with Brazil for the sale of four Scorpene-class submarines for €5.2 billion.

The vessels incorporated parts supplied by Thales and three of the submarines have already been delivered.

The second element of the deal was the construction of a naval base and a submarine construction site at Itaguai, which was inaugurated in 2018.

Different investigations

The second investigation opened in June 2023, said the judicial source.

This case is a collaboration by investigators in France, the Netherlands and Spain, as well as official from Eurojust, the European Union agency for criminal justice cooperation.

Thales, in its response to AFP on the evening of June 29, stressed that it “strictly conforms to national and international regulations”.

The company had developed and implemented a programme designed to ensure it met the highest industry standards, it added.

Thales has previously been investigated for alleged corruption.

A Paris investigating magistrate is due to decide shortly whether to follow the recommendations of the prosecutor at the financial crimes office and put a subsidiary of Thales on trial.

The DCNI, part of the group’s naval wing, is under investigation over the sale of submarines to Malaysia in 2002.

And it emerged in May 2023 that financial prosecutors had also opened a preliminary investigation into how Thales won a contract to refit India’s Mirage-2000 fighter jets.

Thales has denied any wrongdoing in the affair.

Another investigation, opened in December 2020, is looking at the transfer of a former Thales employee to a key post at the United Nations, one of the defence company’s clients. AFP