BAE Systems lobbyist held on bribery charges

London: A BAE Systems Plc lobbyist was arrested in Austria on suspicion of bribing officials in Hungary and the Czech Republic to win contracts for Europe's biggest defence company.

Alfons Mensdorff-Pouilly was arrested on Friday at his house in Luising in eastern Austria, said his lawyer, Harald Schuster, by phone Friday. The charges, which include money laundering, are groundless, Schuster said. BAE declined to comment.

The Austrian investigation, which follows one that British authorities started last year, relates to lease agreements for Gripen fighter jets that were reached in 2003 and 2004.

Hungary in 2003 renewed a lease for 14 planes, agreeing to pay 210 billion forint (Dh3.2 billion) in instalments until 2015. The following year, the Czech government agreed to lease the same number of planes for 19.6 billion koruna over 10 years. BAE marketed the planes, which are produced by Sweden's Saab AB, in which BAE owns 21 per cent.

"We are not prepared to comment on whether any specific individual has been questioned, as to do so is wrong and might also prejudice the investigation," BAE spokesman Mike Dennehy said in an e-mailed statement yesterday.

Mensdorff-Pouilly was questioned by an investigating judge. Under Austrian law, pre-trial custody can last six months if an investigating judge deems it necessary in a review after the first two weeks.

Mensdorff-Pouilly is married to former Austrian Health Minister Maria Rauch-Kallat, according to Profil magazine.

Michaela Schnell, a spokeswoman for the Vienna prosecutor's office, could not be reached immediately when called at her office after normal working hours. Calls to the mobile phone of another spokesman, Gerhard Jarosch, were not returned.

The UK Serious Fraud Office last year asked Austria for help in its investigation of the Gripen deals. Austrian police in September raided Mensdorff-Pouilly's home and office and two other locations. He was also questioned by the UK SFO in October in Carlisle, England, when he was returning home from his castle in Scotland.

The reason Austria issued the arrest warrant now is because prosecutors determined that there was reason to believe that Mensdorff-Pouilly "planned to suppress evidence and commit more crimes", Schuster said.