FRA/th - Through mediation of Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau, the then Flughafen Frankfurt/Main AG - the owner and manager of Frankfurt Airport - (today Fraport AG) in 1998 considered an investment in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, and concluded an export agreement for airport equipment. At the beginning of December 2002, the two Fraport employees responsible for the project were dismissed without notice after Fraport was informed by the public prosecutor in November 2002 that the said employees were under preliminary investigation on suspicion of fraud and embezzlement to the detriment of the company. "Beneficial expenses" were not paid with the knowledge and approval of the company.

It goes without saying, that Fraport does not tolerate violations of the existing law under any circumstances. Furthermore, the company has since introduced a "Values Management System" which documents a code of conduct for Fraport employees and, for example, also sets out rules for dealing with gifts and donations. The code also clearly states that deviations from these standards will not be tolerated and that any violation of the rules and, in particularly, of the existing law will be punished by disciplinary action or even result instant dismissal.

Accordingly – and contrary to the claims of the two dismissed Fraport employees and their lawyers – fictitious transactions or bribes were neither planned, permitted, nor tolerated by senior management. And contrary to suggestions made in media reports, the executive board of Fraport was at no time aware of irregularities in connection with the Tashkent project. In particular, the claim that a graphic detailing "beneficial expenses" or similar was prepared or presented to the executive board is entirely false. Similarly, considerations regarding subsidiary agreements as noted in an auditor's report, do not stem from an authorized signatory of the company but from one of the project managers who have since been dismissed.

For More Information, Please Contact:
Fraport AG Frankfurt Airport Services Worldwide
Attn: Robert A. Payne - Manager International Press
60547 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Tel.: +49 69 690 -78547 / Fax: +49 69 690 -60548
E-Mail: r.payne@fraport.de / Internet: www.fraport.com