THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: BAE agrees pricing on Typhoon deal with Saudi Arabia: Years of uncertainty ends over multi-billion pound sale of fighters to Saudi Arabia in boost to defence giant ahead of annual results » | Alan Tovey | Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Showing posts with label BAE. Show all posts
Showing posts with label BAE. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Prince of Wales Joins Saudi Sword Dancers in Traditional Dress
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: BAE agrees pricing on Typhoon deal with Saudi Arabia: Years of uncertainty ends over multi-billion pound sale of fighters to Saudi Arabia in boost to defence giant ahead of annual results » | Alan Tovey | Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Sunday, February 28, 2010
This is the sort of nonsense that makes people NOT proud to be British! Staff at the UK embassy should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves. But they’re not; they are just raking in the money. For such people, money and contracts are clearly more important than principle. – © Mark
ARAB NEWS: RIYADH: Sources at the British Embassy in Riyadh say the death of a British cyclist in a road accident last week is believed to be nothing more than a “tragic accident”. >>> Walaa Hawari, Arab News | Sunday, February 28, 2010
Related:
British Cyclist Was 'Deliberately Run Down' in Saudi Arabia >>> Andrew Alderson, Chief Reporter | Saturday, February 27, 2010
Saturday, February 27, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: A Briton has been killed after youths allegedly rammed a car into a group of friends who were cycling in Saudi Arabia.
John Currie, who worked for BAE Systems (formerly British Aerospace), is believed to have been one four cyclists who were being "cut up" by local youths in two cars on a main road on the outskirts of Riyadh, the Saudi capital.
Initially, it is understood that one of the cars clipped a cyclist, causing him to fall off his bike. Then, however, one of the drivers is alleged to have turned around and deliberately ploughed his car into the cyclists.
Mr Currie, 54, a human resources worker with BAE, is said to have been smashed against the vehicle's windscreen and later died from his serious injuries. His widow, Pauline, is returning to Britain this weekend.
The couple, from Chester, Cheshire, are believed to have two grown-up children. Mr Currie's body will be flown home for a funeral service.
In the past 15 years, there have been a number of terrorist attacks on British and other western nationals in Saudi Arabia by Muslim extremists. Several westerners have been killed - and even more injured - in a series of bombs and gun attacks. Radicals are angry that US and British oil companies and their staff are operating on Saudi soil. >>> Andrew Alderson, Chief Reporter | Saturday, February 27, 2010
Friday, February 05, 2010
THE GUARDIAN: Guardian campaign vindicated by weapons maker's admissions over Saudi al-Yamamah contract and other cases
The British arms firm BAE Systems has accepted guilt and agreed to pay penalties in the US and the UK totalling several hundred million dollars to settle all the long-running corruption allegations against it.
Under the deal, announced simultaneously in London and Washington this afternoon, BAE will pay $400m (£255m) in the US and £30m in the UK.
In the US, the company will plead guilty to offences of false accounting to settle bribery allegations made over the enormous al-Yamamah arms deals with Saudi Arabia stretching back more than 20 years, as well as corruption allegations over arms deals in central Europe. >>> David Leigh and Rob Evans | Friday, February 05, 2010
THE GUARDIAN: To the BAE files and videos >>>
Saturday, October 18, 2008
THE TELEGRAPH: Britain's failure to tackle corporate bribery and corruption allegations was severely criticised in a report started after the Government blocked an investigation into a huge arms deal between BAE Systems and Saudi Arabia.
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said it was "disappointed and seriously concerned about the UK's continued failure to address deficiencies in its laws on bribery of foreign public officials and on corporate liability for foreign bribery".
Compiled by the OECD's anti-corruption working group, the report said that British law makes it "very difficult for prosecutors to bring an effective case against a company for alleged bribery offences".
And the Government was slated for its failure to successfully prosecute a single firm for bribery, despite ratifying the body's anti-bribery convention 10 years ago.
The strength of criticism and lack of diplomatic language used in the report will be embarrassing for the Government, which in 2006 urged the Serious Fraud Office to drop an investigation into BAE's Al Yamamah contract with Saudi.
Earlier this year the Law Lords said the SFO was right to drop the investigation on national security grounds. BAE Systems has always denied any wrongdoing.
The OECD usually carries out reviews on members every two years, but decided to undertake an extra investigation of the UK's enforcement of the anti-bribery convention following the controversial BAE decision.
The body urged Britain to rapidly bring its legislation into line with its international obligations under the convention. >>> By Russell Hotten | October 17, 2008
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Dust Jacket Hardcover, direct from the publishers (UK) >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Paperback, direct from the publishers (UK) >>>
Thursday, October 02, 2008
THE GUARDIAN: Serious Fraud Office investigating allegations of bribery and money laundering
British investigations into BAE, Britain's biggest arms company, appear to have revived today after it was disclosed that a key BAE agent has been raided.
Investigators from the Serious Fraud Office arranged for the agent, Count Alfons Mensdorff-Pouilly, to be raided in Austria.
Austrian prosecutors said the raids were carried out at the request of the SFO investigating allegations of bribery and money laundering.
The Austrian police seized a quantity of documents from the home and office of Mensdorff-Pouilly, who has been accused of receiving millions of pounds from BAE for promoting deals. He is the Viennese laird of a Scottish castle.
The SFO's investigations into BAE have been controversial as the government stopped its inquiry into Saudi arms deals. Critics have alleged that the government is soft on BAE and has placed the company above the law and effectively made it immune from prosecution - an accusation denied by ministers. Fraud Investigators Raid BAE Agent's Austria Home >>> Rob Evans | September 30, 2008
REUTERS:
RPT-Austria Raids Lobbyists in Jetfighter Bribery Probe >>> | September 30, 2008
WALL STREET JOURNAL:
Police Look for Bribery Evidence in Case Against BAE >>> By David Crawford and Daniel Michaels | October 1, 2008
THE TELEGRAPH:
Austrian Addresses Visited in BAE Serious Fraud Office Probe: Police in Austria have visited a number of addresses as part of a UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO) investigation into claims that defence company BAE Systems was involved in bribery to secure aircraft contracts in the Czech Republic and Hungary.
The police visited the Austrian home and office of Count Alfons Mensdorff-Pouilly, a lobbyist who owns a castle in Perthshire.
The SFO is thought to have asked the Austrian authorities for help with its continuing probe into the defence company. The lobbyist's lawyer, Harald Schuster, said any allegations of wrongdoing were groundless.
Despite abandoning its investigation into BAE's dealing with Saudi Arabia, the SFO has continued to look at the company's defence contracts in other countries, including South Africa and Tanzania. >>> By Russell Hotten | October 1, 2008
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Dust Jacket Hardcover, direct from the publishers (UK) >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Paperback, direct from the publishers (UK) >>>
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
THE TELEGRAPH: BAE Systems is to appoint a senior executive to oversee the implementation of a new code of conduct at the defence company after its chairman, Dick Olver [sic], and chief executive, Mike Turner, accepted that it had not paid sufficient attention to ethical standards.
The company, Europe's largest arms manufacturer, is to incorporate 23 recommendations laid out yesterday in the Woolf Report, commissioned last year after years of allegations that BAE had engaged in bribery and corruption to win contracts. The 146-page report, dismissed as a whitewash by some and a road map to better corporate governance by others, also calls on the Government and the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to play a greater role in improving the reputation of Britain's defence industry.
The year-long inquiry, led by retired senior judge Lord Woolf of Barnes, recommends that BAE publishes and implements a global code of ethical business conduct with regular, independent audits of that conduct. "Critically, both the chairman and chief executive, in discussions with us, acknowledged that the company did not in the past pay sufficient attention to ethical standards and avoid activities that had the potential to give rise to reputational damage," the report said.
BAE's insufficient attention to ethical standards was combined with an "acceptance of conditions which constrained its ability to explain the full circumstances of its activities", the report said. "These contributed to widely held perceptions that it was involved in inappropriate behaviour. They recognise that, justly or otherwise, these perceptions have damaged the company's reputation." BAE to Appoint Ethics Tsar After Bribery Claims >>> By Russell Hotten | May 7, 2008
THE TELEGRAPH:
Woolf Report Points BAE Towards Higher Moral Ground >>> By Damian Reece | May 7, 2008
THE TELEGRAPH:
Putting a Gloss on Unethical Business Practices >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback - UK)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback - UK)
ethics tsar
Monday, February 18, 2008
THE GUARDIAN: Saudi Arabia's rulers threatened to make it easier for terrorists to attack London unless corruption investigations into their arms deals were halted, according to court documents revealed yesterday.
Previously secret files describe how investigators were told they faced "another 7/7" and the loss of "British lives on British streets" if they pressed on with their inquiries and the Saudis carried out their threat to cut off intelligence.
Prince Bandar, the head of the Saudi national security council, and son of the crown prince, was alleged in court to be the man behind the threats to hold back information about suicide bombers and terrorists. He faces accusations that he himself took more than £1bn in secret payments from the arms company BAE.
He was accused in yesterday's high court hearings of flying to London in December 2006 and uttering threats which made the prime minister, Tony Blair, force an end to the Serious Fraud Office investigation into bribery allegations involving Bandar and his family.
The threats halted the fraud inquiry, but triggered an international outcry, with allegations that Britain had broken international anti-bribery treaties.
Lord Justice Moses, hearing the civil case with Mr Justice Sullivan, said the government appeared to have "rolled over" after the threats. He said one possible view was that it was "just as if a gun had been held to the head" of the government.
The SFO investigation began in 2004, when Robert Wardle, its director, studied evidence unearthed by the Guardian. This revealed that massive secret payments were going from BAE to Saudi Arabian princes, to promote arms deals.
Yesterday, anti-corruption campaigners began a legal action to overturn the decision to halt the case. They want the original investigation restarted, arguing the government had caved into blackmail. BAE: secret papers reveal threats from Saudi prince - Spectre of 'another 7/7' led Tony Blair to block bribes inquiry, high court told >>> | David Leigh and Rob Evans
LISTEN TO GUARDIAN AUDIO: 'It was remarkable the way the government had just rolled over': Two pressure groups are appealing against the decision to drop an investigation into BAE's dealings with Saudi Arabia
THE GUARDIAN: A cover-up laid bare: court hears how SFO inquiry was halted: Papers show how arms giant tried to avoid revealing secrets; Saudi threats meant 'no other choice' but to stop investigation
THE GUARDIAN: Full Coverage: The BAE Files
DAILY MAIL: Blair accused of forcing BAE fraud probe to fold by applying 'irresistible pressure
THE INDEPENDENT: Blair used 'irresistible pressure' to halt investigation into BAE-Saudi arms deal | Robert Verkaik, Law Editor
Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)
Monday, November 26, 2007
· Washington wants papers from SFO's Saudi inquiry
· Britain trying to block questions on payments
THE GUARDIAN: US corruption investigators have gone behind the back of Downing Street to fly a British witness to Washington to testify about Saudi arms deals with the UK arms firm BAE Systems, the Guardian can disclose. In a hitherto secret move, Swiss federal prosecutors have also agreed to hand over to Washington financial records linked to the Saudi royal family.
The US is seeking - but has so far been refused - more than a million pages of documents seized from BAE, its bankers, Lloyds TSB, and the Ministry of Defence during an investigation by the Serious Fraud Office.
Prince Bandar, the former Saudi ambassador to the US, who says there was no impropriety about a £1bn payment he received for brokering arms deals with BAE, has hired a former head of the FBI and a retired British high court judge to defend his position. The British government has been attempting to block all investigations into payments from BAE to members of the Saudi regime. >> By David Leigh and Rob Evans
THE GUARDIAN — THE SECRETS OF BRITAINS ARMS TRADE:
Part 1: The Healey Machine
Part 2: The Ray Brown Years
Part 3: The Iranian Deals
Part 4: The Unlovable Saudis
Part 5: BAE in Saudi Arabia
Part 6: The Secrets of Al-Yamamah
Part 7: Britain Blocks Reform
Part 8: BAE’s Secret Money Machine
Part 9: Nobbling the Police
Part 10: The Web Widens
MORE:
All articles
Mark Alexander
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
BBC: A pressure group is going to the High Court to challenge the legality of the decision to end investigations into BAE Systems' dealings with Saudi Arabia.
Corner House Research is due later to ask the High Court for permission to seek a judicial review.
It wants to challenge the Serious Fraud Office's decision last year to stop investigations into whether BAE gave money to Saudi officials in the 1980s. BAE inquiry decision challenged (more)
Mark Alexander
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
THE GUARDIAN: The Serious Fraud Office's reputation for tackling corruption has been damaged by the BAE Systems arms deal controversy, its director admitted today.
Robert Wardle told MPs it was "very disappointing" to have to drop his investigation into claims that Britain's biggest arms manufacturer made improper payments to Saudi Arabian officials. Serious Fraud Office admits BAE controversy has been damaging (more) By James Sturcke and agencies
Mark Alexander
Saturday, June 16, 2007
THE TELEGRAPH: Lord Woolf, a former chief judge of England and Wales, has defended his appointment as chairman of a committee that will investigate BAE Systems' ethical standards following allegations of bribery and corruption.
Speaking publicly for the first time about his role, Lord Woolf, said yesterday that he will "look at things with a critical and independent eye for the sake of BAE and the country".
"If I thought that I was being used for some kind of window dressing then I would not be doing this," he said.
Critics are unlikely to be convinced, as under the terms of reference Lord Woolf will investigate only current and future ethical policies and processes. It thus excludes the bribery allegations surrounding the Al Yamamah contract with Saudi Arabia. Woolf will look at BAE with 'critical eye' (more) By Russell Hotten
Mark Alexander
Sunday, June 10, 2007
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: To Western eyes, Saudi Arabia's super-rich royal princes appear a confusing mix of pious Muslims and decadent playboys. But it is their distinctive approach to doing business that is now giving Britain a headache. David Harrison reports
Long after midnight, the party is in full swing, the music loud, the whisky and champagne flowing. In the penthouse suite at a five-star London hotel, six attractive young British women in short, tight dresses that leave little to the imagination, sashay between wealthy princes from Saudi Arabia, flirting and laughing more loudly than the Arabs' witticisms merit.
A silver dish of white powder, with matching spoon, is passed around. From time to time, a couple slips out of the suite only to reappear half an hour later and seek new friends. Others do not feel impelled to leave in order to share intimate moments and settle on a sofa or the four-poster in the main bedroom, oblivious of their fellow party-goers. We did it their way (more)
Mark Alexander
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Never in the history of the world has so much been earned by so few; and never in the history of the world has there been so much corruption.
Nowadays, we hear about corruption at the top all the time; indeed, almost on a daily basis, we hear some new titbit about the goings on of this CEO or that, or this politician or that. Political appointments are handed out based on nepotism and cronyism. Fat salaries are paid to people who have little experience, and sometimes even little understanding, of the positions to which they have been appointed.
We hear about this sort of thing all the time: one day it’s the slush fund that BAE is alleged to have set up, the next, it’s the enormous salary raise awarded to one’s fancy woman, yet another, we hear about the extraordinarily extravagant lifestyle of the gay head of Head of British Petroleum (BP), Lord John Browne, the socialist peer, who, it has been alleged, ran that oil company as though it had been his private enterprise, and who financed an extravagant gay lifestyle beyond any normal person’s wildest dreams: private jets to take the gay couple to the place or country of their whim and choosing; three-thousand-pound bottles of claret for lunches; trips to the Salzburg festivals; and so on and so forth. All, of course, on company expenses. Lord John Browne took the term ’gay lifestyle’ and gave it its full meaning! Pity he didn’t think of giving the term its full meaning out of his own pocket. Indeed, so gay was his lifestyle that his gay French-Canadian lover, Jeff Chevalier, couldn’t keep up with Lord Browne and is said to have had to go into therapy!
The evidence coming to light about the goings on at the World Bank apropos of the shenanigans of Paul Wolfowitz paints a depressing picture of corruption at the very top, in places one would hope would be corruption-free. Fat salary increases to one’s bed partner should surely be left to one's colleagues to decide; further, where such vested interests lie, they should be handed out by those other people on the basis of merit, and merit alone.
Then we have all those millions which are said to have been laundered in Switzerland to pay members of the royal family of Saudi Arabia in return for contracts and extensions of contracts pertaining to the Al-Yamamah contract which Mrs Thatcher initiated many years ago. It was a very large contract even then; now it is colossal. Funny that the name of the contract - Al-Yamamah- has such a whiter than white name; for in Arabic, the name means ‘the dove’. Doves, as we all know, have such a pure, often white, connotation. There seems to be little white and pure about the goings on behind the scenes between BAE and the Saudi government. Anyone would think that those already fabulously wealthy Saudi princes needed even more money!
The funny thing is that there are hundreds and hundreds (maybe even thousands and thousands) of ex-employees of BAE who have been treated shabbily. BAE is famous for its bad treatment of any employee who happens to fall foul of their autocratic management style. How many innocent ex-employees of BAE have had their careers washed up because of BAE, I wonder? How many lives has BAE destroyed? How many sacrificial lambs have there been since the inception of this so-called Al-Yamamah contract? One can only hazard a guess.
Then we have the Bush-Saudi connection. The relationship between these two parties seems most unhealthy to me and to many I know. Bush keeps harping on about terrorism and the need to win the war against it. Have you noticed, though, that he avoids calling that same terrorism by its proper name: Islamic terrorism? One can only wonder why.
The sad thing about the ‘war on terror’ is that Bush is all for beating it on the one hand, but on the other is allowing the Saudis to pump untold millions, nay billions, into the US to finance the propagation of Wahhabi Islam, known to be the most pernicious brand of Islam around. On this score, Bush speaks with bifurcated tongue. So Islam-friendly have his policies been over the time he has been in office that Islam has grown in the States like never before. Doesn’t the president realise that Islam is out to destroy the US constitution? Does he not realise that Islam and democracy are totally and utterly incompatible? Does he not realise that Islam is as much a political system as it is a religious one? Can Mr Bush really be that naïve? Or is there something else going on behind the scenes which we, the ordinary people, just don’t get to hear about?
Then we have the vast inequalities of wealth created here in the United Kingdom by no less than a so-called socialist government under Tony Blair’s watch. It has recently been reported that the top echelons of society have seen their riches increase threefold in the past decade! And they call that socialism! That’s ‘Champagne socialism’ if ever I saw it.
Now don’t get me wrong, I am no friend of socialism. Socialism is one of the worst forms of government ever dreamed up by any political thinkers. But nor am I in favour of a form of unbridled capitalism which treats people unfairly. It cannot be right for foreigners to be allowed to come to this country and not be taxed on their earnings from abroad, when ordinary people, you the voters, have to be taxed on any small amount of money you might be able to earn from that self-same source.
In London, there are many who have to slave away for a full week for as little as £400, and often less, whereas there are the fat cats who earn upwards of £46,000 in that very same week!
If the corruption I have referred to is allowed to continue, then we should not be surprised if one of these days the people will turn on the people who govern them. Nor should we be surprised if the pendulum will swing in the favour of socialism in the years to come. Even the very best of parties come to an end, sometime. Our politicians should be aware that people’s tolerance is not infinite. It used to be said that poverty was the breeding ground of communism. In those days, they were speaking of absolute poverty, of course. But I should like to add that relative poverty could also one day become the breeding ground of communism. We should all be aware that this is a distinct possibility. Fairness still counts for something. No sensible person wants to live in a political system that treats the rich differently from the poor. Any country that legislates so much in favour of the rich at the expense of the poor is heading for political turmoil. Those odious systems of government – socialism and communism – are not dead; they are simply lying dormant. And in some countries, most notably in Venezuela, we can see extreme socialism beginning to raise its ugly head even as I write this.
Capitalism is by far the best political system around; though it is far from perfect. The greatest weakness in capitalism is that it plays to man’s greedy nature. In years gone by, this wasn’t such a problem, since in years gone by, the influence of the Church and Christianity were far greater: they acted as a counterbalance to man’s greed, and checked people’s lack of principle, thereby keeping corruption, nepotism, and cronyism in check. Alas, in today’s increasingly secular world, there are few such checks and balances. The Western capitalist world has become a ‘free for all’: you take what you can, when you can.
Corruption, nepotism, cronyism, unbridled greed – these are the sad realities of life in the twenty-first century.
©Mark Alexander
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
THE TELEGRAPH: BAE Systems is shrugging off concerns about the US fallout from corruption allegations involving Saudi Arabia and driving deeper into the huge American defence market.
The British defence giant has agreed to pay $4.1bn (£2bn) cash to buy Armor Holdings, the military vehicle manufacturer that also provides armour plating for the Humvee and other front-line transporters.
BAE plans to raise £750m selling new shares to pay for Armor.
A successful takeover would increase turnover in the US from 36pc to 42pc of the group total and catapult BAE into sixth place in the Pentagon's list of major suppliers of military hardware. BAE drives deep into US (Read on) By Roland Gribben
Mark Alexander
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
FINANCIAL TIMES: Congress is stepping up its scrutiny of the UK government’s move to halt a bribery investigation into BAE as the British company increases its US profile with the $4.1bn purchase of Armor Holdings.
The deal – for the biggest maker of armour for Humvee transport vehicles – cements BAE’s status as the Pentagon’s largest foreign contractor.
Washington issued a formal protest in January after the UK Serious Fraud Office prematurely terminated an investigation into allegations that BAE might have bribed officials in Saudi Arabia to secure defence contracts. US steps up scrutiny of BAE case (Read on)
Mark Alexander
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
TIMESONLINE: The US Department of Justice (DoJ) is in talks to establish whether it can launch a formal inquiry into alleged bribery and corruption in BAE Systems, The Times has learnt.
Mike O’Brien, the Solicitor-General, acknowledged that the UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has met the DoJ to discuss allegations of corrupt practices by BAE.
The DoJ is understood to be looking into whether it has the jurisdiction to pursue BAE over payments allegedly made to win defence contracts from foreign governments. The British Government terminated a similar investigation by the SFO in December amid fears that it would cause a breakdown in relations with Saudi Arabia.
The SFO has six continuing investigations into BAE, involving contracts won from South Africa, Chile, Romania, Tanzania, Qatar and the Czech Republic. Last week it emerged that an official at the US Embassy in London had complained formally to the British Government over the decision to stop the SFO’s Saudi investigation. US seeks to pursue BAE over claims company paid bribes (Read on) by David Robertson
Mark Alexander
Friday, April 27, 2007
FINANCIAL TIMES: The US issued a formal diplomatic protest to the British government over its decision to drop a fraud investigation into alleged bribery of Saudi officials by arms manufacturer BAE Systems.
The verbal protest was delivered in January by a US embassy official in London to the UK Foreign Office within days of the contentious decision being taken in December. Several governments, including the US, had raised the issue at a meeting of the anti-bribery working group of the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development.
The demarche, though discreetly delivered, was nonetheless strikingly forceful for a key military and security ally.
Diplomatic insiders told the Financial Times that Washington said the British decision put the Blair government in breach of both the spirit and the letter of the OECD anti-corruption convention that requires member states to have a “level playing field” in which to conduct commercial relations.
It is also embarrassing for BAE, whose corporate responsibility report, published this month, plays down the controversy surrounding the ditching of the investigation. US protested at axing of BAE probe (Read on) by Jimmy Burns and James Boxell
Mark Alexander
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)