Main headlines from this issue

Portuguese court gives go ahead for offset fraud case

A Portuguese court has ruled that three German executives and seven Portuguese businessmen are to face trial charged with robbing the Portuguese state of €34m ($48m). The case centres on the offsets that Man Ferrostaal allegedly promised to deliver with regard to a submarine contract.

India: yet another leak of offset documents meets with the usual refrain: “the file was not sensitive”

The Indian Defence Ministry has launched another inquiry after receiving an anonymous envelope containing four pages of a leaked draft field trial report of 145 M777 Ultra-Light Howitzers to be procured for the army.

Greek Defence Minister: “nasty offsets have corrupted Greece”

“When I talk about the need to have an autonomous defence industrial base I am referring to common defence projects that address the vicious policy of offsets, and the vague and problematic notions of internal defence industrial participation and Greek added value”.....

What are they afraid of? EC refuses to be held to account at GOCA’S Amsterdam conference

The European Commission has refused to send a representative to speak to GOCA delegates on the guidance note the EC published on offsets under the Procurement Directive. A GOCA delegate described the decision as bizarre .........

ECCO INAUGURATED IN PARIS AS OFFSETS FACE EC CHALLENGE

A new offset association, the European Club for Countertrade and Offset (ECCO), held its first board meeting in Paris this March.