Recent allegations of bribery relating to the Czech selection of the Gripen to meet its long-standing fighter requirement have stung Gripen International partners BAE Systems and Saab.
"This story first surfaced a year ago," BAE Systems' John Nielsen, who headed the Gripen sales campaign in the Czech Republic told Flight Daily News. "It was groundless then and it's groundless now. We thought it had been published and died years ago. The Czech police investigated the allegation in December last year and concluded that there was absolutely no evidence of any corruption. We've never paid bribes or directed anyone else to."
The fact that the allegations have resurfaced clearly surprised those close to the programme, which was regarded as having been "unusually transparent". The Czech Government published the contract (without the detailed technical specification) in a local newspaper, and held workshops to discuss the Gripen's NATO interoperability, and to publicly air the offsets and financial package.
Czech air force sources suggest that Gripen would always have been a clear winner because of the capability and quality of the aircraft, which made it their 'preferred option' and by the generous offsets and financial package.
In the event, it had become a one-horse race, with Boeing dropping out because the C-model Hornet was no longer in production, and with Lockheed Martin refusing to respond in Czech as requested.
Source: Flight Daily News
