Airbus building and US laws
a few days ago, al-qabas newspaper published an exciting piece of news on its front page, concerning the british authorities condemning the european aircraft manufacturer, airbus, for offering kickbacks (bribe) to the brokers, middlemen or whatever you may call them to secure aircraft purchase deals from their respective governments and the name of kuwait did not fail to make an appearance.
the report detailed how the bribes were paid over the years and who was punished and who was let go and who escaped the hands of the law.
the us authorities deal more seriously and harshly with issues that implicate their companies, the european companies or others in issues related to paying kickbacks, compared to the more lenient european governments, because the americans believe this phenomenon harms their supreme interests.
this is because the americans feel the us companies miss out on fair competition with others and this is what the europeans fail to see because of their lenient attitude.
therefore, it was remarkable to see huge sums of money were paid in fines by several major international companies and banks in recent years for their involvement in “illegal” operations – one such illegal operation was recently announced by the us department of justice involving the giant ericsson and the latter agreed to pay more than a billion dollars to the us government in settlement of the case after the company was accused of paying bribes in asian and the middle eastern countries to obtain deals, and perhaps kuwait may have been among them.
the american laws give the judiciary authority over foreign companies whose shares are traded on us stock exchanges, or if the crime affects the sovereignty of the united states or its financial system.
consequently, our legislative and executive authorities should exercise caution and work to prevent any company or entity in kuwait from being involved in receiving kickbacks from international companies because of the seriousness of the potential consequences from the us authorities should they be caught on the wrong foot because they will end up in paying huge fines.
in the past, many people - kuwaitis and residents - have received heavy commissions on arms and other deals, but the global and american situation in particular concerning such issues has become more assertive and poses a risk not only to the company that offered bribe and the receiver, but also the government where the bribe occurred.
by the way, there is a luxury complex in salmiya which is called the ‘airbus complex. since the european aircraft manufacturer does not own this building, it is common knowledge that anyone can guess why it is called ‘airbus’.
