Thales to pay millions of euros in compensation over Taiwan frigate deal

French defence giant Thalès has been ordered to pay hundreds of millions of euros to Taiwan in compensation over the 1991 sale of warships, in a move described by Taipei as "belated justice".

AFP / Sam Yeh

In a ruling on Monday, a Paris-based court of arbitration said the money was to make up for unauthorised commissions paid to help Thomson-CSF win a deal to sell six Lafayette frigates to Taiwan.

Thomson-CSF later became Thalès.

The firm said in a statement that the total sum involved was around 630 million euros including interest. A spokesman for the group said they are contesting the very basis of this ruling and would appeal.

In Taiwan, President Ma Ying-jeou's spokesman said that the leader had welcomed the decision.

A French judicial probe opened in 2001 to investigate claims that much of the money paid by Taiwan a decade earlier went towards illicit commissions.

In 2001, Taiwan's highest anti-graft body concluded that as much as 400 million dollars in kickbacks may have been paid throughout the course of the deal.