Alan George/LONDON
LAWYERS FOR Eurocopter are seeking a new date for a court hearing, originally scheduled for 2 May, in which the company is being sued by a Portuguese agent over non-payment of commission on alleged defence deals with the apartheid regime in South Africa.
Court proceedings brought by the Portuguese agent, Beverley Securities Incorporated (BSI), began in the Commercial Court of Bobigny, near Paris, in January against Eurocopter International, part of the successor to Aerospatiale's helicopter division. BSI is claiming 10-15% of the cost - stated to total some $3 billion - of helicopter kitsets which it alleges were supplied to South Africa by Aerospatiale while there was a United Nations arms embargo in force. BSI has already tried to obtain the money through a court action against Armscor in South Africa, but that case failed.
BSI alleges that Armscor approached it for assistance in channeling the kits via Portugal to a front company in Zaire.
The French commercial court has ruled that this new case should be heard in open court, but it is understood that Eurocopter lawyers are now asking for the case to be heard in camera.
The substance of BSI's allegations is that it has not been paid for the assistance it provided from 1986 onwards in arranging the supply of various defence-equipment items, including 50 military-transport helicopters kits, from Aerospatiale to the Pretoria regime.
BSI says that the Oryx was developed by Aerospatiale and delivered in kit form over a five-year period, under a contract estimated to be worth $3 billion. South Africa's Atlas Aviation claims that it developed the Oryx itself.
Under UN sanction regulations, Aerospatiale was allowed to supply Pretoria with spares for aircraft delivered before the embargo went into effect, and it is alleged that the Oryx kits were described as spare parts for earlier Pumas.
Aerospatiale says that the matter is sub judice and therefore it could not comment. In a statement to the news agency Reuters, Armscor says: "The terms of the contract concerned reflects the international practice of confidentiality with respect to arms contracts and, therefore, prevent the release of further information."
Source: Flight International
