RTX pays Taiwan US$160 million over arms price gouging: MND

Taipei, Nov. 20 (CNA) Taiwan's military on Wednesday said it received a payment of NT$5.2 billion (US$159.86 million) from RTX (formerly Raytheon Technologies Corp.) after the defense contractor was found by the United States government to have engaged in price gouging, with Taiwan among the buyers affected.

The NT$5.2 billion payment was received on Tuesday and promptly wired to the national treasury, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said in a press statement.

The MND said it received the payment after RTX reached a settlement in October with the U.S. government following an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) into price gouging by the defense contractor in foreign military sales.

A DOJ press statement released on Oct. 16 said RTX, would pay over US$950 million to resolve federal charges it defrauded the U.S. Department of Defense into overpaying for defense systems and bribed an official in Qatar to secure business from the Middle East country's air force.

At the time, the countries impacted by the incident were unnamed.

However, it has since come to light that Taiwan was one of the affected buyers, having been overcharged for a radar system in 2013, and the Patriot missile system in 2017, which is a key component of Taiwan's surface to air defense.

The MND has never revealed the exact amount Taiwan overpaid RTX or the weapons systems involved.

Wednesday's MND statement also said that the government has asked the U.S. to thoroughly probe all defense procurement deals involving RTX to ensure there are no similar overpricing cases involving Taiwan.