A FRENCH Commercial Court will judge on 3 October on whether Eurocopter should pay an international arms dealer for allegedly arranging the sale of 50 Super Pumas to South Africa during the United Nations arms embargo to the country (Flight Inter- national, 1-6 May).
The dealer, Beverley Securities (BSI), claims "reasonable compensation" for setting up the deal, which it says took place in the late 1980s. Lawyers for Eurocopter allege that the affair is "pure fantasy", suggesting that the case is part of a smear campaign organised by "industrial competitors".
BSI claims that the South African arms agency, Armscor, set up a channel in Portugal through which the 50 helicopters, in kit form, could be sent without contravening the arms embargo. The helicopters, renamed Oryx, are now in service in South Africa.
In a hearing at Bobigny, just outside Paris, on 12 September, it was claimed, that compensation for Portugal's intermediary role, was achieved by Eurocopter upgrading free of charge, ten Portuguese Super Pumas, to increase their range. It also emerged that a previous deal set up by BSI, involving spare parts for South African Lockheed Martin Hercules transport aircraft to be supplied via Portugal, never materialised.
Source: Flight International
