Hi °C | Lo °C An international court of arbitration has ordered French electronics and defence group Thales SA to pay hundreds of millions of dollars of compensation to Taiwan in a long-standing dispute over a 1991 frigate sale.
The total sum ordered paid by the court in the case is around €630m, Thales said in a statement, adding that its share comes out to about 27% - its portion of the original contract.
Thales spokesman Caroline Philips said the French state will pay the remainder.
In a statement Thales said it "disputes the very grounds of this decision" and that "the company will initiate all available proceedings and actions against this award, and will in particular file petition for nullity in front of the Paris Court of Appeal".
Thales has a substantial operation in Belfast, which employs more than 500 people.
As part of the deal in question, the Taiwanese navy bought six Lafayette frigates from French firm Thomson-CSF - which since changed its name to Thales SA - as well as state-owned shipbuilders, for more than $400m each.
The contract for the six navy frigates forbade commissions to intermediaries.
However, a corruption investigation was triggered in 1993 that involved six former naval officers and in 2001 the Taiwanese authorities filed a complaint alleging that the anti-corruption clauses in the contract had been breached.
