On Tuesday, a Singapore national, Eng Heng Chiaw, was charged in the city-state's Subordinate Court with offering a defence ministry official 500,000 Singapore dollars (305,000 dollars) to secure tender details about an EADS competitor for the contract.

EADS issued a statement Wednesday saying that it "vigorously denied the speculation published in an article in the Straits Times, associating it with a consultant accused of corruption."

The company added that "neither EADS nor Eurocopter has any link with this person."

Eurocopter is a wholly owned EADS subsidiary.

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