Airbus pays record Sh400 billion fine over bribery

A flight attendant walks along an aisle in the 'World Traveller' section of the new Airbus A380. [Courtesy]

Airbus bribed public officials and hid the payments as part of a pattern of global graft, prosecutors said on Friday as the European plane maker agreed a record Sh400 billion ($4 billion) settlement with France, Britain and the US.

The disclosures, made public after a nearly four-year investigation spanning sales to more than a dozen overseas markets, came as courts on both sides of the Atlantic formally approved settlements that lift a legal cloud that has hung over Europe’s largest aerospace group for years.