The French arms group Thales was raided this week in France, the Netherlands and Spain as part of investigations into suspected corruption linked to sales of military equipment abroad, notably in Brazil , AFP learned this Saturday June 29 from a judicial source.
Confirming information from BFMTV, this judicial source specified that searches had been carried out between Wednesday and Friday at the headquarters of different companies in the Thalès group, in France, the Netherlands and Spain. According to this source, these searches “intervene within the framework of two preliminary investigations“.
“The first, opened at the end of 2016, notably on charges of bribery of a foreign public official, private corruption, criminal association and money laundering of these offences, concerns the sale of submarines and the construction of a naval base in Brazil.“, the judicial source said.
“The second, opened in June 2023, notably on charges of corruption and influence peddling of foreign public officials, private corruption, criminal association, money laundering and concealment of these offences, concerns various operations for the sale of military and civilian equipment abroad.” she added.
The operations “were carried out by 65 investigators from OCLCIFF (Central Office for the Fight against Corruption and Financial and Tax Offenses, Editor’s note), 12 magistrates from the PNF (National Financial Prosecutor’s Office), with the collaboration of the Dutch and Spanish judicial authorities, and the coordination of Eurojust“, the European judicial agency, according to this judicial source, according to which the “investigations continue“.
Thales and its lawyer did not immediately comment.
