Ex-Boeing official set to plead guilty

THE former Boeing official at the centre of the $23bn (£12.6bn) US Air Force tanker scandal is expected to plead guilty to conspiracy next week.

Darleen Druyun, a senior Air Force acquisition official who joined Boeing to help negotiate the deal, is understood to have admitted to irregularities in the way the contract for a new fleet of Boeing 767 refuelling aircraft was negotiated.

She and Mike Sears, the company's chief financial officer who hired her, were sacked over alleged ethics violations.

Druyun's plea is likely to cause severe embarrassment to the Air Force and Boeing.

The investigation has so far concluded that US taxpayers could be paying $4.5bn too much for the planes. A conspiracy plea implies that others were involved, though it is unclear whether they were in Boeing, the Air Force, or both. Druyun could provide evidence in an attempt to avoid a potential five-year prison sentence on conspiracy charges.

The affair is being investigated by the Pentagon Inspector General - who believes the Air Force shaped the purchase to suit Boeing more than the militar - the SEC and federal prosecutors.

Even if there are no further prosecutions at Boeing, Druyun's admission is a severe blow to the company which has been struggling to put a string of scandals behind it.