EADS CEO warns executives against graft

Tom Enders, the head of European aerospace giant EADS, warned executives against corruption or unethical behaviour in their business dealings, a news report said on Thursday. "There is no place at EADS for corrupt or unethical behaviour," Enders said in a company memo, according to the Friday edition of Financial Times Deutschland. The paper reported that Enders was responding to two ongoing corruption probes into EADS: a case in Austria concerning a 2003 fighter jet deal and an affair involving British EADS unit, GPT. On Wednesday, a German public prosecutor said authorities had searched several German EADS sites as part of an investigation into alleged corruption. The prosecutor said German legal authorities were looking into a suspected case of corruption during the sale of fighter jets to Austria and that "several people" were under suspicion. In August meanwhile, Britain's Serious Fraud Office said it had launched a criminal probe into the activities of the GPT in Saudi Arabia. According to reports, EADS was informed in 2007 about costly gifts given to Saudi Arabian royalty and military, as well as suspect payments made to Cayman Island bank accounts.