US requests information from Saab North America on Brazil fighter jet purchase

October 10

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) -The U.S. Department of Justice has requested information from a subsidiary of Saab over Brazil’s purchase of the Swedish firm’s Gripen fighter jets in 2014, which was the subject of a Brazilian corruption probe, Saab said on Thursday.

“Saab intends to comply with the request to supply information and to cooperate with the DoJ in this matter,” the company said of the U.S. queries to Saab North America.

Saab said in its statement that Brazilian and Swedish authorities’ investigations into Brazil’s fighter procurement process had been closed without indicating any wrongdoing by the company.

Brazilian prosecutors in 2016 formally accused Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva – the country’s former president at the time and now its sitting president – of using his influence to help Saab win the tender for 36 fighter jets worth $5.4 billion. Lula’s lawyers said the case amounted to “political persecution”.

The Brazilian Air Force in 2014 chose the Gripen to replace its aging fleet of fighter jets over Boeing Co’s F-18 Super Hornet, and the Rafale, made by France’s Dassault Aviation SA.

The deal with Saab also allows Gripens to be produced in Brazil in the future.

The first aircraft have already been delivered to Brazil and the remainder are expected to be delivered by 2027.

Shares in Saab were down 6.38% at 1530 GMT.

(Reporting by Louise Breusch Rasmussen, Editing by Alison Williams, Jane Merriman and Mark Potter)

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