On 22 October 2021, the Council on Ethics recommended that the Canadian company Bombardier Inc (Bombardier) be placed under observation due to an unacceptable risk that the company is contributing to or is itself responsible for gross corruption.
Bombardier is one of the world’s largest producers of private jet aircraft. Previously, the company also produced commercial aircraft, and it also used to be one of the world’s largest manufacturers of railway rolling stock and ancillary equipment. The Council’s investigations have revealed that Bombardier or its subsidiaries can be linked to allegations or suspicions of corruption in six countries over a period spanning more than ten years. The Council’s review of Bombardier’s systems and procedures for the prevention and detection of corruption indicates that some of the elements are in place, but the most important in the Council’s opinion is the practical implementation of the anti-corruption system. The discrepancy between what the company has disclosed and the information the Council has obtained from other sources causes the Council to question how effectively the company is handling third-party risk and reports on possible irregularities. The fact that the Council is not recommending that Bombardier be excluded from investment by the GPFG, but rather that it be placed under observation, is due to the fact that Bombardier divested its Transportation division in 2021. It was the Transportation division to which the majority of allegations and suspicions of corruption were linked.
On 7 March 2022, Norges Bank announced its decision to place Bombardier under observation for a period of two years.