What the CEO of Airbus declared, and what the record contains.
Guillaume Faury signed declarations to the government of Kuwait stating “none” regarding commissions on a contract worth approximately €1 billion for thirty Caracal military helicopters.1 In November 2020, an International Chamber of Commerce arbitration tribunal awarded the intermediary on the deal, Farid Abdelnour, €12 million, finding that Airbus had “carried out business as usual."1 In January 2024, the Kuwaiti parliament found Airbus had engaged in “fraud and deception” on the contract and that €349 million in public funds had been wasted.2 In May 2024, the Emir dissolved parliament for up to four years. The investigation was halted.3
The Kuwait helicopter deal was not included in Airbus’s €3.6 billion deferred prosecution agreement of January 2020.1 The record does not explain why. It remains unresolved.
I. The letters
In October 2015, Faury, then CEO of Airbus Helicopters, wrote to Abdelnour: “I would like to thank you for your action and your support, which are crucial for us."1
In October 2016, he wrote again, apologising for payment delays, calling progress in Kuwait “of superior importance to me."1
The contract was signed in August 2016.1 Marwan Lahoud, then Airbus’s Chief Strategy and Marketing Officer, confirmed due diligence completion in May 2016 and indicated willingness to finalise a €48 million payment to Abdelnour over two years.1 Lahoud headed the Strategy and Marketing Organisation, the unit through which the bribery documented in the 2020 settlement was routed.5
Faury signed the commission declarations to the Kuwaiti government. Commission declarations in defence procurement are typically signed on the basis of information provided by legal or compliance teams. They stated: “none."1
Abdelnour took Airbus to arbitration. In November 2020, the ICC tribunal awarded him €12 million, finding that Airbus had “carried out business as usual."1 The tribunal ruled on what Airbus owed. It did not rule on the accuracy of the declarations. But it found that a compensable commercial relationship existed, on a deal where the division head had signed declarations stating no commissions were payable.
The Kuwaiti parliamentary investigation, conducted in January 2024, reviewed the same contract. It found, in a parliamentary proceeding rather than a judicial one, that Airbus had engaged in “fraud and deception.” Eight senior Kuwaiti officials bore responsibility. Seven were suspected of “profiteering.” The investigation identified €349 million in public funds “wasted."2 In April 2024, the National Assembly agreed to form a new investigation committee. In May 2024, the Emir dissolved parliament and suspended multiple constitutional articles.3
The investigation is frozen. As of March 2026, parliament remains dissolved.
II. Marignane
Faury became CEO of Airbus Helicopters in August 2013, headquartered in Marignane, southern France. He held the position for more than five years.4
During that period, the helicopter division contributed to two of the three jurisdictions that would impose the largest anti-corruption settlement in European history. The SFO’s DPA covered failure to prevent bribery in five countries. The PNF’s CJIP covered bribery-related conduct in sixteen. Both addressed helicopter operations.5
In 2014, a search of Airbus Helicopters offices in Marignane uncovered evidence that the company had agreed to pay €12 million in bribes to Kazakhstan’s prime minister, Karim Massimov, for a helicopter sale arranged between 2009 and 2011, before Faury’s appointment.6 An €8.8 million payment was traced to a Singapore bank account registered to a Hong Kong shell company. False invoices referenced a fictitious Caspian Sea pipeline project.6 Massimov was later jailed for treason following the January 2022 unrest. A second case was opened against him for money laundering and bribery in November 2023.6
The US State Department documented 75 ITAR violations between 2011 and 2019, including helicopters exported to Israel with false or incomplete export authorisation applications.7 The helicopter division fell within this enforcement period during Faury’s entire tenure as division CEO.
The Kuwait contract was negotiated and signed during Faury’s tenure. The Kazakhstan bribery predated his appointment but was discovered on his watch. The ITAR helicopter violations spanned his entire tenure as division CEO. His predecessor, Lutz Bertling, had been removed in 2013 amid an internal investigation. Faury was brought in to stabilise the business.4
III. Toulouse
Faury became CEO of Airbus SE on April 10, 2019, succeeding Tom Enders.4 Enders had closed the Strategy and Marketing Organisation, initiated the self-disclosure, and cooperated with investigators. Faury inherited the post-reform company.
What happened under Faury’s tenure as group CEO:
January 31, 2020. Airbus paid approximately €3.6 billion to resolve the SFO, PNF, and DOJ investigations covering bribery in more than twenty countries. A British judge stated that “bribery was endemic within Airbus in core business areas.” French prosecutors estimated the corruption increased Airbus’s profits by €1 billion. Over 100 employees had been terminated internally. Zero were criminally prosecuted. The stock rose 1-2.3% on the announcement.5
April 2021. GPT Special Project Management Ltd, an Airbus subsidiary, pleaded guilty to bribery in Saudi Arabia. GPT had paid approximately £14.9 million in bribes to Saudi Arabian National Guard officials between 2007 and 2012. Confiscation and fines totalled £28.1 million. The judge found GPT had “destroyed evidence and attempted to manufacture false evidence."8
November 2022. Airbus signed a second French CJIP, paying €15.86 million to resolve additional corruption charges related to Libya and Kazakhstan, including the helicopter deals that originated under Faury’s former division.6
2023. Between February and August, all three DPAs were concluded. The compliance monitor was discharged. Airbus exited probation.
March 2025. Ethisphere named Airbus one of the “World’s Most Ethical Companies."9
March 12, 2026. Sri Lanka arrested Kapila Chandrasena, the former CEO of SriLankan Airlines, on charges involving a $2 million payment from Airbus.10
March 16-18, 2026. The UK High Court is scheduled to hear Lt Col Ian Foxley’s whistleblower case against Airbus and the Ministry of Defence. Foxley discovered the GPT/Saudi corruption in 2010. When he reported it, he was threatened with imprisonment in Riyadh and fled the country. Documents from the 2024 Cook/Mason trial revealed that Airbus was aware of the corrupt payments from the point of acquisition, contradicting its longstanding position. Airbus and the MOD seek to dismiss the claim as time-barred. Foxley argues key facts were deliberately concealed.11
The Foxley case directly concerns Airbus’s bid for SKYNET 6, a UK military satellite programme worth up to £10 billion.11
IV. What MAR permits
Guillaume Faury has never been charged with a crime. He has never been convicted. He has never been named as a subject of any criminal investigation. These are facts, and they constrain what can be stated about him.
The following are also facts, sourced from ICC arbitration findings, OCCRP investigative reporting, Kuwaiti parliamentary records, SFO and PNF settlement documents, UK criminal trial exhibits, and Airbus’s own financial filings:
He signed commission declarations stating “none” on a contract where an ICC tribunal later awarded the intermediary €12 million. He wrote to that intermediary calling his support “crucial” and describing progress on the deal as being “of superior importance.” He led the helicopter division during the period covered by the bribery investigation, during the discovery of the Kazakhstan bribery, and during the ITAR violations. He became CEO nine months before the largest anti-corruption settlement in European history. A subsidiary pleaded guilty to bribery on his watch. A second CJIP resolved helicopter corruption from his former division.
Airbus SE is listed on Euronext Paris. The EU Market Abuse Regulation (596/2014) prohibits dissemination of information giving false or misleading signals about financial instruments, but Article 21 requires the regulation to be applied with due regard for the freedom of the press. Every statement in this article is sourced from court records, regulatory findings, parliamentary proceedings, corporate filings, and published investigative reporting.
What MAR does not address: the question of why, across a twenty-year corruption apparatus spanning more than twenty countries, involving a 150-person strategy unit whose internal sub-unit conducted the bribery, funded with a $300 million annual budget, not a single Airbus executive has been criminally charged, while bribe recipients in Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Nepal, and Thailand have been arrested, convicted, or imprisoned.
V. The chair
Marwan Lahoud headed the Strategy and Marketing Organisation from 2007. A British judge, approving the DPA, stated that “bribery was endemic within Airbus in core business areas."5 Lahoud was questioned by police in 2019. He was never charged. In 2023, he was appointed Chairman of the Board of ISAE-SUPAERO,12 the Grande Ecole from which Faury graduated and where he serves as an advisory board member.4
Jean-Paul Gut ran the International Operations sub-unit, described by a former Airbus executive as “like our secret service, whose job was to handle the dirty tricks.” He was never charged. He received a severance payment later reported by Mediapart at more than €80 million.13
John Harrison, who in a February 2007 email regarding testimony before the Austrian parliament’s Eurofighter investigation advised that it was “risky to have our consultants confronted with detailed questions that may be used later against us in court proceedings,” returned to Airbus in 2015 as General Counsel and Head of Public Affairs. He remains in the role.14
In the countries where Airbus paid bribes, the arithmetic is different. Emirsyah Satar: eight years, then five more. Kapila Chandrasena: arrested and remanded. Thirty-two Nepalis charged, eleven convicted. Hadinoto Soedigno: twelve years. He died in custody in December 2021.5
The people who designed the system chair boards and collect severance. The people who were paid by it are in prison or dead.
Faury sits in the chair where Enders sat, who sat where Gallois sat, who sat where Forgeard sat. Each departure was framed as a clean break. The backlog grew through every transition. The governance structure, the French state ownership, the revolving door between Airbus and European defence procurement, did not change.
The declarations still say none.
Footnotes
1 OCCRP, “As Bribery Probe Unfolded, Airbus Kept in Touch with Middleman on Controversial Kuwait Helicopters Deal.” Faury letters to Abdelnour: October 2015 (“crucial for us”), October 2016 (“of superior importance to me,” apology for payment delays). Lahoud: due diligence confirmed May 2016; €48M payment authorisation over two years. Commission declarations to Kuwait: “none.” ICC arbitration: €12M awarded to Abdelnour, November 2020; tribunal found Airbus “carried out business as usual.” Kuwait helicopter deal not included in 2020 DPA.
2 The National, “Kuwaiti inquiry accuses former officials of squandering money in Airbus helicopters deal,” January 11, 2024. Airbus engaged in “fraud and deception.” Eight senior officials bore responsibility; seven suspected of “profiteering.” €349M in public funds “wasted.”
3 Al Jazeera; Reuters, May 2024. Emir of Kuwait dissolved parliament for up to four years, suspended multiple constitutional articles. As of March 2026, parliament remains dissolved. Investigation committee formation (April 2024) overtaken by dissolution.
4 Airbus SE corporate announcements. Faury: CEO of Airbus Helicopters from August 2013; CEO of Airbus SE from April 10, 2019. Graduate of Ecole Polytechnique and ISAE-SUPAERO. Previously: Eurocopter flight test engineer; Sagem; PSA Peugeot Citroen (EVP R&D). Predecessor Lutz Bertling removed in 2013 during internal investigation.
5 Combined from DOJ, SFO, PNF settlement documents, January 31, 2020. Total: ~€3.6B. “Bribery was endemic” (British judge). €1B in extra profits (French prosecutors). Over 100 employees terminated; zero criminally prosecuted. Stock rose 1-2.3% on announcement. Emirsyah Satar: 8 + 5 years. Chandrasena: arrested March 12, 2026. Nepal: 32 charged, 11 convicted. Soedigno: 12 years; died December 2021. See Two Million Dollars.
6 KIAR; Arab News; Navacelle. Kazakhstan: €12M bribe to PM Massimov discovered in 2014 search of Airbus Helicopters offices, Marignane. €8.8M traced to Singapore bank account in name of “Caspian Corp” (Hong Kong-registered). False invoices referencing fictitious pipeline project. Second CJIP: November 2022, €15.86M. Massimov: jailed for treason (January 2022 unrest); second case for money laundering and bribery (November 2023).
7 US State Department, ITAR settlement, January 2020. 75 violations (2011-2019). Helicopters to Israel: false/incomplete export authorisation. Total ITAR penalties: ~$297.7M (DOJ criminal $232.7M + DOJ civil forfeiture $55M + State $10M). See Volkov Law.
8 GOV.UK; OCCRP. GPT Special Project Management Ltd pleaded guilty April 2021 to bribery in Saudi Arabia. £14.9M in bribes (2007-2012) to SANG officials. Confiscation £20.6M + fine £7.5M. Justice Bryan: GPT “destroyed evidence and attempted to manufacture false evidence.”
9 Ethisphere, “World’s Most Ethical Companies” 2025 honorees list.
10 Malay Mail; Daily FT, March 12-13, 2026. See Two Million Dollars.
11 Leigh Day, “Airbus and MOD accused of concealing role in Saudi bribery scheme,” March 2026. Foxley: discovered GPT corruption 2010; threatened with imprisonment in Riyadh; fled; employment terminated. March 2024 Cook/Mason trial documents: Airbus aware of corrupt payments from point of acquisition. SKYNET 6 implications.
12 ISAE-SUPAERO website. Lahoud: Chairman of the Board since 2023. Lahoud headed SMO from 2007. Home searched by OCLCIFF police February 8, 2016. Questioned by police September 2019 regarding Libya. Never formally charged. Also: Partner at Messier & Associes since 2024.
13 The Black Sea, “Airbus corruption allegations point straight to the top,” 2020. Jean-Paul Gut: ran IO sub-unit (“like our secret service”). Official severance €2.8M; Mediapart reported actual payment exceeded €80M.
14 The Black Sea, 2020; Airbus corporate. John Harrison: General Counsel and Head of Public Affairs since 2015. Previously EADS GC of Defence Division (1997-2007). February 2007 email to intermediaries regarding Austrian parliamentary committee: “it is risky to have our consultants confronted with detailed questions that may be used later against us in court proceedings.”