Polish Prosecutors to Investigate Scrapped Helicopter Deal

A jail sentence of up to three years could await some of the Polish negotiators involved in the failed Airbus Helicopters deal, as the Polish prosecution opens an investigation.

The Regional Prosecutor's Office in Warsaw has revoked a previous decision not to look into the talks.

A politician from the governing Law and Justice (PiS) party had informed the prosecution in Poland that members of the former ruling Civic Platform (PO) party may have rigged the tender in Airbus's favour.

The previous PO-led government rejected offers to supply 50 military helicopters from domestically-based manufacturers in favour of France-based Airbus Helicopters, a decision which was criticised in by PiS.

Meanwhile, PO alerted anti-corruption authorities that PiS may have conducted “activities detrimental to the State Treasury”.

The prosecution's new investigation will look into the whole situation, public Prosecutor Bogdan Święczkowski said.

“The prosecution will look into the whole helicopter purchase procedure, from the negotiation process […] to signing the contract, and then the backing out of the French partner from offset commitments,” Święczkowski said.

Poland had been negotiating the purchase of 50 Caracal-model helicopters from Airbus worth PLN 13.5 bln (EUR 3.2 billion) when the Development Ministry called off the deal, calling it "pointless" in early October.

(EDITOR’S NOTE: Prosecutor Michal Dziekanski told state news agency PAP on Friday his office will check whether officials had exceeded their authority or failed to perform their duties in negotiating the deal, as well as in scrapping it later,” Reuters reported Oct. 28.
He added they will also investigate potential bribery. "This will be a complicated, comprehensive investigation, encompassing a very large set of evidence," Dziekanski told public broadcaster TVP Info.)

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Poland's opposition party Civic Platform (PO) will demand a parliamentary investigative commission into the termination of talks on the purchase of French helicopters for the Polish army, PO caucus leader Slawomir Neumann said in an interview for the daily Rzeczpospolita.

On Oct. 4 the Polish government broke off negotiations with Airbus to buy 50 of its Caracal helicopters for around PLN 13.5 billion. The government said the contract was not in the country's economic and security interests.

The offset offered by Airbus was reportedly almost equal in value to the planned purchase, and would create 3,000 jobs in Poland. Additionally, the offer guaranteed technology and intellectual property transfers to Poland.

PO wants to know why the government rejected such a large offset package.

According to Neumann, politicians responsible for the termination of talks with Airbus will be sued by the Tribunal of State, when Law and Justice’s (PiS) ruling is over.

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