SEOUL, March 11 (UPI) -- A South Korean military official was arrested on charges of receiving bribes from France's Dassault Aviation, a company that was considered one of the contenders for South Korea's $3.2 billion dollar fighter jet contract.
The bribery case could lead to the French aircraft maker being dropped from consideration. Dassault's Rafale aircraft and Boeing Co.'s F-15K are seen as front-runners for the contract. Also being considered are Eurofighter consortium's Typhoon 2000 and the Russian Sukhoi Su-32.
A special envoy from the French government visited South Korea Defense Minister Kim Dong-shin on Monday to the South Koreans to select the Rafale.
"The procurement project is very important to not only South Korea-France relations but South Korea-EU ties as well," said former French Ambassador to South Korea Jean Bernard Ouvrieu, according to Defense Ministry spokesman Hwang Eui-don.
The French envoy also expressed concerns that the Seoul government may yield to U.S. pressure to buy Boeing's F-15K, citing allegations that the Defense Ministry is favoring F-15K in consideration of its long-standing security alliance with the United States.
Last week, the French daily, La Tribune said that Dassault might not win the South Korean project because of political reasons even though its Rafale jet proved superior. South Korea's secret military report recently showed that Rafale fighters beat all its competitors, including Boeing's F-15K, during last year's test flights.
The French mission's visit came shortly after a South Korean Air Force officer, identified only by his family name, Cho, was arrested on a charge of taking $8,370 from Dassault's local agency, Comet, in exchange for key information on selection guidelines.
Cho, who served as a vice chief of the evaluation team, allegedly advised Comet to increase the scope of technology transfer and subcontracts for local aerospace companies, saying it would help win the contract. Cho was accused of keeping classified documents about the fighter evaluation without approval, officials said.
The scandal could result in elimination of Dassault from the competition to supply the South Korea Air Force with 40 jet fighters by 2008. Under provisional contracts signed last month, the Defense Ministry can cancel contracts if a bidder is confirmed to engage in illegal practices, including bribery.
But some analysts raised suspicions that the South Korean government had played down the allegation of U.S. political pressure, while focusing on the French bribery case, in what they call was a scheme to give the deal to Boeing. The contract would be a plum for Boeing, which recently lost a fighter contract to rival Lockheed Martin to build the new Joint Strike Fighter, they said.
South Korea is worried about possible diplomatic row as it plans to announce a winning bidder for fighter project early next month. "The government is expected to suffer an immediate aftermath of the project because the four bidders are strongly backed by their respective governments," a senior defense official told United Press International on condition of anonymity.
