LONDON — The High Court in London on Friday approved a deferred prosecution agreement between Ultra Electronics and the United Kingdom's Serious Fraud Office, under which the defense contractor admitted failing to prevent bribery and agreed to pay a £10 million penalty. Ultra Electronics also agreed to pay £4.8 million to cover the SFO's investigation costs.

Ultra Electronics accepted responsibility for failing to prevent bribery in connection with three public sector contracts in Algeria and Oman that were sought through agents. One of the contracts was a £200 million deal awarded by Oman's ministry of transport and communications. A second was for technology and e-commerce solutions at Houari Boumediene airport in Algiers, and a third was for encryption technology for Algeria's ministry of post and telecommunications. The Algerian contracts, which Ultra Electronics ultimately did not secure, were expected to generate a profit of £1.4 million.

The SFO opened its investigation in 2018 after Ultra Electronics referred itself a month after corruption allegations were published by Algerian media. The agency expanded the investigation to cover Oman in 2023, and in October 2024 said it was widening the scope further to include the company's worldwide operations.

The SFO had previously withdrawn from negotiations after concluding that the conditions for a meaningful agreement were not in place. Talks resumed after changes to Ultra Electronics' ownership, structure and leadership. The company fully cooperated with the investigation, and the agency acknowledged its exemplary cooperation and extensive enhancement of its compliance programme since its acquisition. Under the agreement, Ultra Electronics must provide yearly reports to the SFO for the next three years to demonstrate the effectiveness of its anti-bribery and compliance programme.

"Bribery undermines that trust and corrodes the systems on which society relies. Today's outcome underlines the Serious Fraud Office's determination to investigate and hold companies to account where those standards are breached," said Graham McNulty, interim director of the SFO.

Helen Taylor, deputy director of Spotlight on Corruption, said: "This DPA is a welcome deal to end a drought of corporate bribery successes for the SFO. Coming at a time of growing geopolitical instability and rising defence spending, this enforcement action sends an important signal to those in the defence industry tempted to cut corners to secure lucrative public contracts."

Ultra Electronics had been listed on the London Stock Exchange until it was acquired by Cobham in 2021 in a £2.6 billion deal. The company is ultimately owned by the U.S.-based private equity group Advent International, which bought Cobham in 2020.

In 2023, Ultra Electronics agreed a remediation agreement with public prosecutors in Canada. That agreement found the company accountable for two counts of bribing officials in the Philippines and one count of defrauding the Filipino government. The offences took place between 2006 and 2018 and related to the procurement of ballistic missile systems for the Philippine national police. The company was ordered to pay more than 10 million Canadian dollars (£5.4 million) in penalties, surcharges and forfeiture charges.

The last time the SFO imposed a penalty for corporate bribery was in 2022, when it fined Glencore £281 million. The agency had collapsed high-profile cases against Serco, G4S and London Mining, and is searching for a new leader.