Patria case
Encyclopedia
The Patria case has been the political controversy over the unproven claims of bribery
Bribery
Bribery, a form of corruption, is an act implying money or gift giving that alters the behavior of the recipient. Bribery constitutes a crime and is defined by Black's Law Dictionary as the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official or...

 of Slovenia
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...

n officials by the Finnish
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

 company Patria
Patria (company)
Patria is a Finnish company which produces a wide range of defence, aviation and aerospace technology. It carries on the firearms tradition of Valtion Kivääritehdas and the aerospace tradition of Valtion lentokonetehdas.-Patria Aviation:* NH90* Mini-UAVs...

 to help clinch an armoured personnel carrier
Armoured personnel carrier
An armoured personnel carrier is an armoured fighting vehicle designed to transport infantry to the battlefield.APCs are usually armed with only a machine gun although variants carry recoilless rifles, anti-tank guided missiles , or mortars...

 order. There is currently a criminal investigation underway, and two employees of Patria
Patria (company)
Patria is a Finnish company which produces a wide range of defence, aviation and aerospace technology. It carries on the firearms tradition of Valtion Kivääritehdas and the aerospace tradition of Valtion lentokonetehdas.-Patria Aviation:* NH90* Mini-UAVs...

 have been arrested on charges of bribery. The CEO stepped down from his position as a result of the affair and is being investigated by the Finnish police on charges of bribery. In early September 2008, just three weeks before the Slovenian parliamentary elections
Slovenian parliamentary election, 2008
Parliamentary elections for the 90 deputies to the National Assembly of Slovenia were held on 21 September 2008. 17 parties filed to run in the election, including all nine parliamentary parties...

 on 21 September 2008, the Finnish broadcasting company YLE published an investigation implicating the corruption
Political corruption
Political corruption is the use of legislated powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption. Neither are illegal acts by...

 of the Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Janša
Janez Janša
Janez Janša is a Slovenian politician who was Prime Minister of Slovenia from November 2004 to November 2008. He has also been President of the Slovenian Democratic Party since 1993...

. Janša and the Slovenian government rejected all accusations and called for the journalists to advance some proof for their claims or to withdraw the accusations. On 11 September 2011, the Slovenian national broadcaster RTV Slovenia published a document disproving the claim about Janez Janša being implicated in the corruption and implicating Bartol Jerković, the director of the Croatian heavy industrial company Đuro Đaković Specijalna vozila.

Background

The Patria case has a European and NATO horizon, and it cannot be understood outside this horizon. First, the rush to modernize the infantry armored vehicles for most Western armies since 2002. Second, the consolidation of the European armored vehicles suppliers through General Dynamics
General Dynamics
General Dynamics Corporation is a U.S. defense conglomerate formed by mergers and divestitures, and as of 2008 it is the fifth largest defense contractor in the world. Its headquarters are in West Falls Church , unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia, in the Falls Church area.The company has...

acquisitions. Third, the commercial war between General Dynamics and Patria in this field. Last, the peculiar status of arms deals that implies state secret protection on arms trade and on their collateral agreements. However, the abuse of secrecy to conceal unlawful practices such as fake offset agreement
Offset agreement
Defense offset agreements are legal trade practices in the aerospace and military industries. These commercial practices do not need state regulations but, since the purchasers are mostly military departments of sovereign nations comparable to the US Defense Department, many countries have offset...

, (equivalent to bribery) is not a Slovenian issue, but a real European problem. The Patria case is a chance to look at what happens in the most politically sensitive and covered areas of Western democracies: arms and state security.

Modernization of infantry vehicles

The historic decision of the U.S. Administration to move the conflict against terrorisms outside United States at the end of 2001 led to the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq. It is a radical change: U.S. had not deployed large infantry on hostile grounds since 1983. The decision had implications for U.S. allies. Ground troops need modern types of equipment to fight new infantry wars. Modern armored vehicles become a priority: more protected, faster, easily deployable, interconnected with the new digital wars. New vehicles must be capable to inter-operate at several communication levels.
Air superiority was no longer the decisive issue. The capability to control the ground became paramount. The human cost of the new occupation wars is mainly due to infantry lack of adequate protection. More than half of the deaths of U.S. and allies is caused by inadequate armoured protection.

Industry consolidation: Light Armored Vehicles

General Dynamics is the U.S leader in infantry vehicles, for the so-called mechanized infantry
Mechanized infantry
Mechanized infantry are infantry equipped with armored personnel carriers , or infantry fighting vehicles for transport and combat ....

. General Dynamics quickly detected a growth opportunity in the NATO and European Armored Vehicles market. After 2002 General Dynamics planned a profitable campaign of acquisitions of smaller European defense companies. Between 2002 and 2003 General Dynamics bought everything it could. MOWAG in Switzerland, Steyer-Daimler-Puch Speazialfahrung in Austria, Santa Barbara in Spain. Then General Dynamics tried also a big shot: in 2004 launched a hostile takeover of U.K Alvis plc
Alvis plc
Alvis Ltd. was created when United Scientific Holdings plc acquired the Alvis division of the nationalised vehicle manufacturer British Leyland in 1981. United Scientific maintained its own name until 1992 when the group was renamed Alvis plc. Alvis acquired Swedish armoured vehicle manufacturer...

, but BAE
BAE
BAE Systems, a British defence, security and aerospace companyBAE may also refer to:*British Aerospace , a UK aircraft, munitions and defence-systems manufacturer...

 reacted, and kept Alvis under British control, later renamed BAE Systems Land and Armaments
BAE Systems Land and Armaments
BAE Systems Land & Armaments is a subsidiary of BAE Systems Inc. and is responsible for the design, development and production of combat vehicles, ammunition, artillery systems, naval guns and missile launchers. It is the largest such company in the world...

.
In just five years General Dynamics shares grew from about $30 to $90. The turnover of the company climbed from $13 billion in 2002 to $32 billions in 2009.

European war between General Dynamics and Patria

Large countries like France, UK, Germany, Italy started the production of these modern Armored Vehicles for the new brave wars, and they assigned the production to their national defense companies. On the other hand, smaller countries began the process of international procurement of these types of military equipments. The most Atlantic countries, notably Portugal, initiated the procurement process right away.¨ More continental countries like Belgium, opposed to U.S occupation of Iraq, started the procurement of Armored Vehicles later.
Patria and General Dynamics engaged in a duel that starts in Portugal, where Patria was overpowered by General Dynamics persuasive influence. Patria was astonished when it was excluded from the final round with ignominy, that is, technically deficient and inferior to the old Pandur. Patria is a national company that produces one of the most competitive Armored Vehicles in the market. In 2005 Patria turnover was about 300 million Euro and in 2009 reached 500 million Euro.
The commercial war is like David vs. Goliath, General Dynamics is 40 times the size of Finnish Patria.

In 2003 Patria and General Dynamics are competitors for the new Portuguese armoured vehicles. General Dynamics won the contract with the Pandur, in competition with itself, that is General Dynamics Piranha; Patria, the third competitor, was disqualified on technical reasons at the end of 2004. Patria naively appealed against the decision, and Lisbon court dismissed Patria appeal in less than 40 days (by February 2005), so Portugal could pay 365 million Euro in exchange for 260 Pandurs and 516 million (150% of the contract value) of General Dynamics offset.

Then in the Belgian tender in 2006 the finalists are: GD-Steyr Pandur, GD-MOWAG Piranha, Iveco Centauro, and Patria AMV. Patria lost, and General Dynamicswon: about 700 million Euro for 242 General Dynamics Piranha and 700 million of GD offset, accurately divided between Flanders and Walloonia (delivery between 2007-2012).

Then Czech Republic. Defense Daily writes in Dec 2005: "As fate would have it, Steyr’s Pandur II (General Dynamics) and Patria’s AMV were the final two contenders for the Czech Republic’s $1 billion wheeled APC contract." Patria won, then the contract goes back to General Dynamics, Pandur.

Similar stories for Romania, Ireland, Denmark, Lithuania, Sweden, Spain etc. But General Dynamics has its most conspicuous sales outside of Europe: about $ 6 billions of Light Armored Vehicles to Saudi Arabia National Guard, via Foreign Military Sales
Foreign Military Sales
The U.S. Department of Defense's Foreign Military Sales program facilitates sales of U.S. arms, defense equipment, defense services, and military training to foreign governments...

.

Patria had some victories against the U.S. giant: Croatia, Slovenia, Poland, Estonia. And most notably, United Arab Emirates. In 2009 Sweden canceled a contract award to Patria of $338 million for 113 Patria AMV, but restarted the contract in 2010.

The Slovenian deal, concerning 135 Patria AMV infantry fighting vehicle
Infantry fighting vehicle
An infantry fighting vehicle , also known as a mechanized infantry combat vehicle , is a type of armoured fighting vehicle used to carry infantry into battle and provide fire support for them...

s, is the largest in Slovenian history of military procurement. Participants to the bid included Patria
Patria
Patria may refer to:* Homeland * Patria, a cycle of theatrical works by composer R. Murray Schafer* Patria AMV * Patria , of Finland...

 with Patria AMV and a Slovenian subsidiary of General Dynamics
General Dynamics
General Dynamics Corporation is a U.S. defense conglomerate formed by mergers and divestitures, and as of 2008 it is the fifth largest defense contractor in the world. Its headquarters are in West Falls Church , unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia, in the Falls Church area.The company has...

, Sistemska Tehnika with Valuk
Valuk
Lahko kolesno oklepno vozilo Valuk is an improved and licensed version of Pandur 6X6 APC, manufactured under a license manufacturing agreement with the Austrian company, Steyr Daimler Puch Spezialfahrzueg AG & Co KG , by Sistemska Tehnika of Slovenia for the Slovenian Army.It is named after...

. The government chose the former.

Alleged scheme

On 1 September 2008, the YLE's investigative program MOT stated that Patria paid 21 million euro
Euro
The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...

s in bribes for deals for Patria AMV IFV
Infantry fighting vehicle
An infantry fighting vehicle , also known as a mechanized infantry combat vehicle , is a type of armoured fighting vehicle used to carry infantry into battle and provide fire support for them...

s for the Slovenian military
Military of Slovenia
The Military of Slovenia consists of the Slovenian Armed Forces . The SAF are the armed forces of Slovenia. Since 2003, it is organized as a fully professional standing army...

. The money was said to be channelled to officials in the country's Ministry of Defence, as well as the Prime Minister Janez Janša. The program covered the ongoing criminal investigation of bribery and gross bribery by Patria officers in Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

, Slovenia and Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...

. The accusations were said to be based on undisclosed documents which mention the initial letter J., interpreted to mean the premier Janez Janša. According to MOT, the documents were verified from multiple reliable sources. These documents were said to be published when the police investigation is completed and the case is presented to the district court. The police estimates that the investigation should be completed by the end of 2008. Furthermore, Drago Kos, the president of the anti-corruption commission in Slovenia, described the bribery as "very hard to deny" in the MOT program and stated people from the government were implicated. Later he said he was only making logical conclusions and has no proof for his claims.

According to MOT, 21 million euros, out of the 278 million total in the deal, was paid in bribes. The transfer was concealed by delivering fewer vehicles and less expensive armaments and extensions than officially announced. Money was channeled to a company held by Patria's Austrian agent, Wolfgang Riedl. Riedl would then forward the money to agents, each distributing the bribes to different groups. Businessman Walter Wolf would interact with Slovenian politicians and painter Jure Cekuta with officials at the Slovenian Ministry of Defence. Riedl transferred 2.8 million to businessman Walter Wolf, but Wolf's attempt to forward the money was stopped by his bank, which informed the Austrian money laundering unit.

Response from Janša and the Slovenian government

Janša rejected all accusations, and called for the journalists to advance some proof for their claims or to withdraw the accusations. In the case they would do neither, insisting on the accusations without showing the proof, he announced to bring legal action against the journalists. The following day, the Slovenian Government decided to sue the journalists and the broadcasting company for false accusation. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs left two diplomatic notes to the Finnish Government, calling the country enable the disclosure of the documents relative to the investigation in order to bring light in the issue. On September 6 Slovenian Government communication office asked YLE director Mikael Jungner to air a "second part" of the broadcast, including the viewpoints from other people involved and effectively negating the claims made in the program. This request was declined. In a parliamentary hearing on 9 September 2008, Janša urged the members of parliament to forget the issue for now and bring it back to discussion once some proof has been advanced.

There is a clause in the deal that allows its cancellation in the case of corruption. On 5 August 2008, Patria provided the Slovenian government with an account of the criminal investigation, where Patria declared in writing that no unlawfulness has occurred in the Slovenian deal. The Slovenian government accepted the declaration and decided not to cancel the deal.
In January 2010 Janez Janša sued Magnus Berglund for 1.5 million euro for defamation in a Slovenian civil court (Novo Mesto) and Ljubljana prosecutors requested 6 months of imprisonment for Berglund.

Finnish government position

So far, the Finnish government has kept a neutral stance. The state of Finland owns a majority share in Patria. The minister responsible for administration of Patria stock, Jan Vapaavuori
Jan Vapaavuori
Jan Pellervo Vapaavuori is a Finnish politician, Minister of Housing and Minister of Nordic Cooperation in Matti Vanhanen's second cabinet.Vapaavuori has been Helsinki City Council member since 1997...

, said that the Finnish government does not intend to issue any statements, particularly during the election period, as that would intervene in the internal affairs of Slovenia. The first diplomatic note was answered by Minister of Foreign Affairs Alexander Stubb
Alexander Stubb
Cai-Göran Alexander Stubb is a Finnish politician and Minister for Foreign Affairs from 4 April 2008 to 22 June 2011...

, who stated that the government will not intervene against the journalists, in respect of the freedom of the press
Freedom of the press
Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the freedom of communication and expression through vehicles including various electronic media and published materials...

. Furthermore, Yle is a non-departmental body directly responsible to a parliamentary committee, not the Finnish Council of State
Finnish Council of State
The Cabinet of Finland is the body that directs the Government of Finland. However, in governmental translations to English, the distinction is often blurred between cabinet and government in the wider sense...

. The second note was answered on similarly neutral terms: the Finnish Council of State
Finnish Council of State
The Cabinet of Finland is the body that directs the Government of Finland. However, in governmental translations to English, the distinction is often blurred between cabinet and government in the wider sense...

 will not and cannot interfere in an ongoing police investigation.

Police investigation

The Finnish police agency investigating the case is National Bureau of Investigation
Keskusrikospoliisi
Keskusrikospoliisi located in the city of Vantaa is a division of Finland's national police. Literally Keskusrikospoliisi/Centralkriminalpolisen would be translated as "Central Criminal Police", which might be a more descriptive name for the entity, as its primary mission is to fight against...

 (NBI), and the case will be heard at Helsinki district court. Two employees of Patria have been arrested for questioning, of which one has been officially imprisoned by the Helsinki district court and one has been released. The CEO, Jorma Wiitakorpi, is still considered a suspect, charged with bribery and industrial espionage
Industrial espionage
Industrial espionage, economic espionage or corporate espionage is a form of espionage conducted for commercial purposes instead of purely national security purposes...

, although Patria's own investigations found no evidence. Furthermore, Helsinki district court imprisoned an Austrian and a Slovenian businessman in absentia
In absentia
In absentia is Latin for "in the absence". In legal use, it usually means a trial at which the defendant is not physically present. The phrase is not ordinarily a mere observation, but suggests recognition of violation to a defendant's right to be present in court proceedings in a criminal trial.In...

, and their hearings are being prepared in co-operation with Austrian and Slovenian officials.

The Finnish NBI criticized the actions of their Slovenian counterparts. According to NBI, the Slovenian police has not provided the information requested for the investigation. On the other hand, when NBI sent a classified list of individuals that the Slovenian police should interview, no interviews were arranged, but the secret list was leaked to the public. According to the officer in charge of the investigation, despite Slovenian police being able and willing to co-operate, the difficulties in the co-operation between the officials are already hindering the investigation.

The Austrian police suspected money laundering and other offenses, when Wolf’s bank warned them about the suspicious transactions and blocked his account. The Austrian Interpol notified the Slovenian police about this but the Slovenian police ignored the notification. It replied only after more than a year, when the news about this was published in the Slovenian daily Dnevnik
Dnevnik (Ljubljana)
Dnevnik is a daily newspaper published in Ljubljana, Slovenia. It was first issued in June 1951 as Ljubljanski dnevnik but was renamed to Dnevnik in 1968....

.

The Slovenian police investigation has been practically stalled, according to MOT. The Slovenian police rejected the accusations of having leaked the secret list. It also started the internal investigation of why the Interpol notification has not been answered to.

Slovenian prosecutors filed charges for corruption against Janez Janša on Aug 6, 2010, though Janša affirmed that he did not receive any notification. Janša denied having "requested or received any rewards or payments related to the Patria deal" in a statement on Aug 27, 2010.

European Union Art. 346 and Arms Trade

The freedom of the press is protected as constitutional right in democratic countries. Finland takes it seriously and, in the Patria case, taught a lesson of democracy, of rule of law, and of business ethics to the world. Whether MOT's charges of bribery are true or not, Finland protected the freedom of speech better than United States, and against its own national interest.
MOT report is of enormous value for the European Union and its attempt to put some democratic transparency in the European Defense procurement.
Arms trade enjoys a particular status in EU, due to its essential connection with national state security, as per Art. 346 of the Lisbon Treaty:
Art. 346, while granting member states the right to classify national information on the subject, i.e, to apply the State secret
State Secret
State Secret is a 1950 British drama film directed by Sidney Gilliat and starring Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Jack Hawkins, Glynis Johns and Herbert Lom. It was released in the United States under the title The Great Manhunt.-Cast:...

 to arms production and trade of member states, explicitly prohibits the use of civilian (indirect) offset as form of distortion of free competition in the common market of the European Union. Some Aerospace and Defense companies abuse of indirect offsets is equivalent to straight bribery
Bribery
Bribery, a form of corruption, is an act implying money or gift giving that alters the behavior of the recipient. Bribery constitutes a crime and is defined by Black's Law Dictionary as the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official or...

, if not worse. This is a level more sophisticated but not different from a bribe, and it is also the level of the commercial war between Patria and General Dynamics, in which Slovenia is just one of the European battles.

There are three reasonable hypotheses on the truth or falsity of the MOT program:

1. Finland and Slovenia are corrupt countries. The rest of European countries are not. Magnus Berglund discovered the corruption, and MOT program is truthful and accurate. It looks that Slovenia is a corruptible country, while countries like Portugal or Belgium (with over one billion euro purchase) are not. Slovenian politicians accept bribes, while the rest of the military sales involving Armoured Wheeled Infantry Vehicles is bribe-free. Furthermore, Finnish companies like Patria are ethnically inclined to corrupt foreign states ¨to obtain and retain business¨, while German Siemens, and U.S. General Dynamics have better policies against active and passive corruption.

2. Magnus Berglund's MOT Program is populist propaganda to increase audience. No valuable truth content. In fact Slovenian police did not even open an investigation on the corruption charges against its Prime Minister and military. Wiitakorpi is a scapegoat, not very smart, but he is completely innocent. No bribes. A variation on this hypothesis is that Wiitakorpi and friends pocketed themselves the alleged bribe, and used the bribe allegation to enrich themselves. Another variation on this hypothesis of falsity of MOT allegations is the some journalists have been paid or tricked by some Patria competitors, in order to create a false report. In all these cases there is no bribe, Slovenian politicians and public officials are clean and innocent.

3. The third reasonable hypothesis is that corruption of state and military officials in arms trade is a European plague. It is not a question about business ethics of Finnish businessmen and political integrity of Slovenian politicians and military (that allegedly shared 21 million Eur, 7,5% of the contract price paid by Slovenian taxpayers). MOT program is a burst of sunlight, in spite of some small errors or minor slips into sensationalism
Sensationalism
Sensationalism is a type of editorial bias in mass media in which events and topics in news stories and pieces are over-hyped to increase viewership or readership numbers...

. Actually, the program is sensational, and if it was not, why did Slovenian Embassy in Finland request to stop the broadcast?

Follow the money

The best angle may be seen by following the money involved in arms trade. Authorities have to complete investigations, but the free press of the Continent has the professional duty and the constitutional right to research on one of the less transparent and most protected items in national budgets. Lack of investigative reporting in the media is a dangerous democracy deficit. In democracy, security issues should not be used to conceal accountability. Defense procurement budgets are but taxpayers money. Corruption in security is one of the most corrosive forms of corrupt practices in democracies, since it is not only about money. It is about citizens trust in the lowest rank policeman up to a President of a country.

The actual situation regarding offset agreements in EU is described in details in a study on defense offsets in the Union countries commissioned by the European Defense Agency and published in 2007. According to this study the volume of EU offset agreements in 2006 was above 4-5 billions euro. The distribution of these offsets is as shown in the diagram: Direct Offsets, Military Indirect Offsets, Civilian Indirect Offsets.

One could say that nothing would have emerged, if only Wiitakorpi would have humbly asked the experienced American giant for an advise on how to use indirect offsets. He could have solved the problem of bribes (if any bribe was due) by establishing an offset fulfillers in Liechtenstein, or in one of the convenient branches of LGT. No need to transfer the money through Austria to Liechtenstein. While Austria treasures bank privacy, it abides to money laundry international laws. In Austria the alleged Patria case scheme was exposed, perhaps because of a zealous bank clerk (or perhaps because Slovenia did not buy the Austrian Pandur). In any case, the fault is to blame on the naïve Jorma Wiitakorpi, leader of an excellent but dwarfish defense company. To be sure, a wire transfer to Feldkirch
Feldkirch, Vorarlberg
- Schools :* Bundesgymnasium und Bundesrealgymnasium Feldkirch * Bundeshandelsakademie und Bundeshandelsschule Feldkirch* Bundesoberstufenrealgymnasium und Bundesrealgymnasium Schillerstrasse...

 (Austria) as compensation for a defense contract is called bribe, while the same wire transfer to Schaanwald
Schaanwald
Schaanwald is a village of Liechtenstein, located in the municipality of Mauren.-Geography:The village is located in north-central Liechtenstein, close to Austrian borders of Feldkirch, on the main road from Schaan that links the country with Buchs and Feldkirch...

 (Liechtenstein) as compensation for the same contract is called indirect offset. No much difference, geographical speaking, only 4 km in the Alps, but a great difference in international defense contractors sophistication. LGT Luxembourg branch can transform that money (being it a bribe or a fake indirect offset certificate) in whatever one likes in the Schengen area. Substantially but also legally speaking it is still corruption, but hard to understand even for investigative journalists.

MOT opened up a valuable breach in an obscured area and, if it is right, it reveals a standard of requested bribe percentage to sell weapons in Europe.

See also

  • Patria (company)
    Patria (company)
    Patria is a Finnish company which produces a wide range of defence, aviation and aerospace technology. It carries on the firearms tradition of Valtion Kivääritehdas and the aerospace tradition of Valtion lentokonetehdas.-Patria Aviation:* NH90* Mini-UAVs...

  • Patria AMV
  • Portuguese Pandur
    Portuguese Pandur
    In 2005 the Portuguese government signed a deal worth 364 million euros to acquire 260 Pandur II armoured vehicle, with an option for further 33 worth 140 million euros, to equip the Portuguese Intervention Brigade of the Portuguese Army and the marines of the Portuguese Navy. Portugal was the...

  • General Dynamics
    General Dynamics
    General Dynamics Corporation is a U.S. defense conglomerate formed by mergers and divestitures, and as of 2008 it is the fifth largest defense contractor in the world. Its headquarters are in West Falls Church , unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia, in the Falls Church area.The company has...

  • MOWAG Piranha
    Mowag Piranha
    The MOWAG Piranha is a family of armoured fighting vehicles designed by the Swiss MOWAG , corporation....

  • mechanized infantry
    Mechanized infantry
    Mechanized infantry are infantry equipped with armored personnel carriers , or infantry fighting vehicles for transport and combat ....

  • Offset agreement
    Offset agreement
    Defense offset agreements are legal trade practices in the aerospace and military industries. These commercial practices do not need state regulations but, since the purchasers are mostly military departments of sovereign nations comparable to the US Defense Department, many countries have offset...

  • Convention against Corruption (disambiguation)
  • Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
    Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
    The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 is a United States federal law known primarily for two of its main provisions, one that addresses accounting transparency requirements under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and another concerning bribery of foreign officials.- Provisions and scope...

  • Politically exposed person
    Politically exposed person
    PEP is an abbreviation for Politically Exposed Person, a term that describes a person who has been entrusted with a prominent public function, or an individual who is closely related to such a person. The terms PEP, Politically Exposed Person and Senior Foreign Political Figure are often used...

  • Walter Wolf
  • Lockheed bribery scandals
    Lockheed bribery scandals
    The Lockheed bribery scandals encompassed a series of bribes and contributions made by officials of U.S. aerospace company Lockheed from the late 1950s to the 1970s in the process of negotiating the sale of aircraft....

  • Airbus affair
    Airbus affair
    The Airbus affair refers to allegations of secret commissions paid to members of the Government of Canada during the term of Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, in exchange for then-crown corporation Air Canada's purchase of a large number of Airbus jets...

  • Agusta scandal
    Agusta scandal
    The Agusta scandal or the Case Agusta-Dassault was a Belgian corruption scandal. It resulted from the purchase of military helicopter of the Agusta A109 Agusta-type by the Belgian Army in 1988, where Agusta and Dassault bribed various office holders...

  • Cunningham scandal
    Cunningham Scandal
    The Cunningham scandal is a U.S. political scandal in which defense contractors paid bribes to members of Congress and officials in the U.S. Defense Department, in return for political favors in the form of federal contracts. Most notable amongst the recipients of the bribes was California...



External Links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK