By PAUL O’DONOGHUE, Senior Correspondent
ULTRA Electronics will pay nearly £15 million under a settlement with the UK’s SFO (Serious Fraud Office), resolving a long-running corruption probe.
The agreement, known as a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA), requires Ultra to accept responsibility for failing to prevent bribery. A judge in London approved the deal on Friday. The move brings an eight-year investigation to a close.
Ultra Electronics supplies sonar and communications systems to the Royal Navy and allied forces. The company triggered the probe when it self-reported suspected corrupt activity in Algeria. The SFO later expanded the investigation to Oman in 2023 and widened it again in 2024.
The settlement consists of a £10 million payment and covering the SFO’s £4.8 million in investigation costs.
Graham McNulty, Director of the Serious Fraud Office, said: “Public services and critical national infrastructure depend on business being carried out honestly and lawfully.
“[This] outcome underlines the SFO’s determination to investigate and hold companies to account where those standards are breached.”
Ultra Electronics SFO probe
The case centres on three public-sector contracts that Ultra pursued through agents. One involved Oman’s Ministry of Transport and Communications and was worth up to £200 million. One related to Houari Boumediene Airport in Algiers. The final contract involved encryption technology for the Algerian Ministry of Post and Telecommunications.
Under the DPA, Ultra must submit annual reports for three years. These must show improvements in its anti-bribery compliance programme.
This marks the 13th DPA the SFO has agreed since 2014. Previous cases include Rolls-Royce, Airbus and G4S.
The company said the DPA brings to a “close an investigation into historical conduct that predates Ultra’s current management and ownership”. It added that the SFO had “acknowledged . . . the extensive enhancement to Ultra’s compliance programme since its acquisition”.
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