Showing posts with label BAE Systems. Show all posts
Showing posts with label BAE Systems. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 31, 2017
Activists Acquitted in Effort to Prevent British Fighter Jet Delivery to Saudi Arabia
Tuesday, October 03, 2017
Join The Dots: What's the Deal? Brexit, Arms and Corporate Power
Saturday, September 09, 2017
Real Media: Biggest Arms Deal in History
Friday, December 20, 2013
Britain's Ambitions in the Gulf Suffer Blow as UAE Rejects Typhoon Deal
David Cameron’s ambition to revive Britain’s ties with the Gulf, involving 230 ministerial visits to the region since 2010, was in disarray yesterday after the United Arab Emirates decided against a multi-billion pound deal to buy Typhoon fighters.
The blow came despite a sustained diplomatic effort, including two visits to the UAE by Mr Cameron, a State Visit from the Queen and an agreement to waive visas for any UAE citizens entering Britain from Jan 1.
In addition, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed, the president of the UAE, paid a State Visit to Britain in April.
“We put out the family silver for them and we still failed,” said Jonathan Eyal, the international director of the Royal United Services Institute.
Reviving Britain’s historic relationship with the Gulf has been a central priority for Mr Cameron. » | David Blair, Chief Foreign Correspondent | Friday, December 20, 2013
My comment:
Is this a case of BAE Systems getting its comeuppance for the sh***y way they have dealt with many of their employees over the years? They have ridden rough shod over many, I am sorry to say. – © Mark
Thursday, December 19, 2013
Blow for Britain and BAE Systems as UAE Rules Out Eurofighter Deal
Defence group BAE's hopes of exporting its Typhoon fighter have been dealt a blow after the United Arab Emirates ended negotiations about buying the jet.
The Gulf nation had been in talks over a multi-billion pound deal to buy 60 of the twin-engine supersonic fighters as it looks to upgrade its air force.
"The UAE have advised that they have elected not to proceed with these proposals at this time," Britain's biggest defence company said in a statement as the market closed on Thursday.
BAE and the British government had been in discussion with the UAE "regarding a range of defence and security capabilities including the potential supply of Typhoon aircraft".
"We put a world-class proposal on the table but the UAE has elected not to proceed at this time," a spokesman for the company said. » | Alan Tovey | Thursday, December 19, 2013
Sunday, June 10, 2012
THE INDEPENDENT: BP and BAE Systems among the tenants of portfolio of properties associated with king's son Prince Abdul Aziz bin Fahd
A secret $1bn US property empire amassed by members of the Saudi royal family is the subject of a bitter legal dispute that threatens to reveal the extent of the family's American business interests.
The oil giant BP and the British defence contractor BAE Systems are among the tenants of companies associated with Prince Abdul Aziz bin Fahd, the playboy son of the late King Fahd, according to court documents.
Lawyers for the companies are asking a judge to keep their ultimate ownership secret, but correspondence between the two sides currently remains on the record in a New York courthouse.
The documents reveal that over the past 15 years, Prince Abdul Aziz and a relative, Sheikh Khalid N Al Assaf, amassed a property portfolio that spans the US, from BAE offices in Reston, Virginia, near the capital Washington, to the headquarters of the television company Starz in California. They also purchased two of the four buildings in the office complex that BP uses as its US headquarters in Houston, Texas. » | Stephen Foley | New York | Wednesday, June 06, 2012
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A former US Marine who was given the nation's highest award for valour is suing British defence giant BAE Systems alleging that a manager mocked his military service and blocked his efforts to get a job with another company.
Sergeant Dakota Meyer, who worked briefly this year for BAE Systems OASYS based in the US, claims the manager called him mentally unstable and suggeste [sic] BAE Systems warns of 'significant uncertainty' in US defence spending [d] he had a drink problem, thereby costing him a new job.
Sgt Meyer received the Medal of Honour from President Barack Obama in September, two years after saving 36 lives during a six-hour ambush in Afghanistan. He was the third living recipient of the award for actions in Iraq or Afghanistan.
At the age of 21 he defied orders from his commanders, charging five times in a Humvee into heavy gunfire and providing cover for his team, allowing many to escape. He killed at least eight Taliban.
In a defamation case filed in Texas, Sgt Meyer said he became dismayed in April upon learning that weapons systems including optical scopes were being sold to Pakistan.
He sent an email to supervisors saying: "We are simply taking the best gear, the best technology on the market to date and giving it to guys that are known to stab us in the back." » | Nick Allen, Los Angeles | Wednesday, November 30, 2011
My comment:
What can we expect of BAE Systems? Isn't it a schlucky operation? Won't it £$%^ on anyone in its way to turn a profit? – © Mark
This comment also appears here.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A senior MP has demanded a parliamentary inquiry into Britain’s £43 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia after a leaked US diplomatic cable disclosed the full case against BAE Systems, the defence contractor.
The Serious Fraud Office dropped the investigation in December 2006, after intense diplomatic pressure from the Saudis. BAE was fined by US authorities last year after it admitted a relatively minor charge of making false statements. It faced no action in Britain over the Saudi allegations and until now the full details of the case have been kept secret.
However, a US cable given to the WikiLeaks website and obtained by The Daily Telegraph discloses the strength of the investigators’ case. Written four months after the collapse of the investigation, it shows the SFO had evidence that:
:: BAE paid £73 million to a Saudi prince who had “influence” over the Al-Yamamah defence contract and that there were “reasonable grounds” to believe another “very senior Saudi official” received payments;
:: The contractor was being covertly investigated by the SFO for carrying out a “potential fraud” against a government department;
:: BAE allegedly circumvented anti-bribery laws by making “substantial payments” to overseas agents employed by the Saudi government;
:: Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles, then British ambassador in Riyadh and now a BAE Systems’ director, “had a profound effect” on the decision by Robert Wardle, then SFO director, to end the investigation.
It also details outrage among Britain’s allies who questioned claims that the case was being dropped on grounds of “national security”.
Last night, Sir Menzies Campbell, the former leader of the Liberal Democrats, called for a Commons investigation.
“This leak tells us how strong a case was available,” he said. “If the information in this document had been before Parliament and the British public, there is no way that the Labour government could have influenced the termination of the investigation.
“The particular issue which will cause a great deal of annoyance is the fact there was prima facie evidence that a government department had been subjected to fraud. If prosecution is no longer possible, it is open to the Commons’ business innovation and skills committee to conduct a full investigation.” >>> Christopher Hope, and Steven Swinford | Saturday, March 12, 2011
Monday, November 29, 2010
THE GUARDIAN: Duke railed against France, British anti-corruption investigations into BAE and American ignorance, leaked dispatches reveal
Prince Andrew launched a scathing attack on British anti-corruption investigators, journalists and the French during an "astonishingly candid" performance at an official engagement that shocked a US diplomat.
Tatiana Gfoeller, Washington's ambassador to Kyrgyzstan, recorded in a secret cable that Andrew spoke "cockily" at the brunch with British and Canadian business people, leading a discussion that "verged on the rude".
During the two-hour engagement in 2008 at a hotel in the capital, Bishkek, Andrew, who travels the globe as a special UK trade representative, attacked Britain's corruption investigators in the Serious Fraud Office for what he called "idiocy".
He went on to denounce Guardian reporters investigating bribery as "those [expletive] journalists … who poke their noses everywhere".
In the cable from the US embassy to Washington in October 2008, Gfoeller wrote: "Rude language a la British … [Andrew] turned to the general issue of promoting British economic interests abroad. He railed at British anti-corruption investigators, who had had the 'idiocy' of almost scuttling the Al-Yamama deal with Saudi Arabia."
The prince, she explained, "was referencing an investigation, subsequently closed, into alleged kickbacks a senior Saudi royal had received in exchange for the multi-year, lucrative BAE Systems contract to provide equipment and training to Saudi security forces."
The dispatch continued: "His mother's subjects seated around the table roared their approval. He then went on to 'these (expletive) journalists, especially from the National [sic] Guardian, who poke their noses everywhere' and (presumably) make it harder for British businessmen to do business. The crowd practically clapped." Read on and comment >>> David Leigh, Heather Brooke and Rob Evans | Monday, November 29, 2010
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
Sunday, October 04, 2009
THE TELEGRAPH: BAE Systems is ready to plead guilty and accept what is expected to be a record fine in order to bring a swift end to the Serious Fraud Office's (SFO) six-year investigation into allegations of corruption in Africa and eastern Europe.
The Sunday Telegraph can reveal that the company and its lawyers now want the opportunity to review the SFO's case and examine the evidence against it before trying to agree a deal.
Senior sources at the defence giant, Britain's biggest manufacturer, have held talks with the SFO to try to establish common ground on the facts of the case but these have ground to a halt, culminating in last week's statement from the SFO which said it was intending to seek the Attorney General's consent to prosecute the company.
BAE is hoping that the SFO will restart the talks with a view to it gaining a clearer understanding of the evidence against it and the provenance of the evidence. It wants to establish common ground between the two sides. If that process succeeds the company would be willing to plead guilty to certain charges and begin talks about a punishment. However, the company has trenchant views about what would be a proportionate and appropriate fine.
It is expected to refer to past financial penalties levied by the SFO when framing its negotiating position and believes a range of previous fines of £6.6m up to £19m is relevant. However, the SFO is understood to have indicated a fine of £200m to £300m would be suitable. >>> Amy Wilson and Rowena Mason | Saturday, October 03, 3009
Thursday, October 01, 2009
THE GUARDIAN: Arms giant given deadline to plead guilty in deal / Company firmly denies all allegations of wrongdoing
The Serious Fraud Office is expected imminently to announce whether it will take the politically momentous decision to seek to prosecute BAE over bribery allegations. The UK arms giant failed tonight to meet a deadline to settle the case or face the courts.
Sources close to the SFO said that the agency would decide what to do tomorrow or Friday. After months of fruitless negotiation, BAE had been given a deadline by the SFO to plead guilty in a negotiated plea deal which would at last draw a line under a six-year investigation into the company's behaviour.
Both sides were refusing to reveal their hand tonight in what appears to be a high-stakes poker game between Britain's biggest arms firm and the agency entrusted with eradicating foreign bribery. >>> David Leigh and Rob Evans | Wednesday, September 30, 2009
TIMES ONLINE: The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) today announced it will seek permission to prosecute BAE, Britain's biggest defence contractor, over bribery charges.
In a brief statement, marking the culmination of an investigation lasting almost six years, the SFO said that it will seek consent from Baroness Scotland, the Attorney General, to prosecute BAE for "offences relating to overseas corruption".
It said that it would prepare its papers to be submitted to the Attorney when the agency “believes it is ready to proceed”.
It gave no further details on the timing of a prosecution, which has to be agreed by the Baroness. >>> Miles Costello | Thursday, October 01, 2009
Saturday, December 06, 2008
THE GUARDIAN: More than £100m was secretly paid by the arms company BAE to sell warplanes to South Africa, according to allegations in a detailed police dossier seen by the Guardian yesterday.
The leaked evidence from South African police and the British Serious Fraud Office quotes a BAE agent recommending "financially incentivising" politicians.
In the arms deal, the new ANC government in South Africa agreed to spend a controversial £1.6bn buying fleets of Hawk and Gripen warplanes.
Critics said the country, beset by unemployment and HIV/Aids, could not afford it. The Hawks, rejected by the military, cost twice as much as Italian equivalents.
But the then South African defence minister Joe Modise and a key official, Chippy Shaik, insisted on the purchase.
BAE is accused in the reports of corrupt relationships with an arms tycoon, John Bredenkamp, recently blacklisted in the US for his links with Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe. Bredenkamp's blacklisting freezes his assets in the US.
BAE's former marketing director for southern Africa, Allan McDonald, has been speaking to police, the leaked files say. He allegedly told them Bredenkamp "gave progress reports directly to Mike Turner". Turner, who has been interviewed under caution by the SFO, stepped down last year as BAE's chief executive.
Bredenkamp-linked companies were paid £40m by BAE to promote the arms deal. According to McDonald, "Bredenkamp suggested identifying the key decision-makers, with a view to 'financially incentivising them' to make the right decision". >>> David Leigh and Rob Evans | December 6, 2008
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback & Hardback) – Free delivery >>>
Thursday, October 23, 2008
THE TELEGRAPH: A senior BAE Systems executive has been arrested and questioned by the Serious Fraud Office over suspected bribery to win lucrative arms contracts, it has been reported.
Julian Scopes, the company's former head of government affairs, was interviewed by SFO officers at Guildford police station on Sunday, according to the Financial Times.
Alfons Mensdorff-Pouilly, a Viennese count who worked as a consultant for BAE, was arrested, questioned and bailed by investigators on the same day, having been intercepted en route from Vienna to his Scottish mansion. His lawyer told the FT he denies any wrongdoing.
Mr Scopes declined to comment, the FT reported, adding that the SFO said a 55-year-old man was arrested and interviewed on suspicion of corruption before being released on police bail to appear next year.
Mr Scopes, 55, who is also a former private secretary to the late defence minister Alan Clark, worked at the Ministry of Defence for more than 20 years before joining BAE Systems.
After taking up the role of head of government affairs, he was responsible for smoothing out dealings between the company and the MoD and other government bodies. He was made head of the company's Indian operation last month.
The interviews came as part of an international investigation into suspected bribes of high-level officials in countries including Austria and the Czech Republic. Officers raided a number of properties in Britain, Austria and Hungary last month. >>> By Jon Swaine | October 23, 2008
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback & Hardback) – Free delivery >>>
Sunday, May 18, 2008
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Two senior executives at Britain's biggest defence company were detained last week by American authorities investigating corruption allegations, the Telegraph has learnt.
Mike Turner, the chief executive of BAE Systems, was held with a senior colleague as they landed in America. Personal electronic equipment, including laptops and BlackBerries, was seized and examined before the pair were released.
The detentions are part of an investigation by the US Department of Justice into allegations surrounding the £43 billion al-Yamamah arms deal with Saudi Arabia. BAE has been accused of making tens of millions of pounds in illegal payments to Saudi officials, although the company maintains it has always acted lawfully.
In December 2006 the Government announced that the Serious Fraud Office was dropping its investigation into the al-Yamamah deal, prompting political controversy. America is continuing its inquiries.
The detention of the BAE executives, understood to have been at the George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Texas, has raised serious concerns at high levels of the Government about "heavy-handed" treatment.
The detentions follow the case of the "NatWest Three", British businessmen each sentenced to 37 months in prison in America this year, and threatens to harm US-UK relations in the run-up to the Group of Eight summit of leading industrial nations in Japan in July.
About the same time as Mr Turner and his unnamed colleague were being detained last week, a number of US-based BAE executives had their homes raided by authorities, The Telegraph understands. BAE Systems Inc, a subsidiary of British-based parent BAE Systems plc, has 43,000 employees in America.
A Foreign Office official expressed concern last night about the way Mr Turner and his colleague, who were on their way to a business meeting, had been treated. He said: "It was pretty heavy-handed. They had their laptops taken away and their documents photocopied."
British officials in Washington were informed of the incident on Monday when Mr Turner, a 59-year-old father of four, alerted military contacts at the embassy. He is also understood to have called contacts in the American government.
The Foreign Office official said it was clear that the American authorities were expecting the men's arrival. "They knew they were coming and they prepared the whole thing," he said. Mr Turner, who was back home in Britain this weekend, is expected to return to the US shortly in connection with the corruption investigation. BAE Bosses Detained by US Investigators over Saudi Case >>> By Patrick Hennessy and Tim Shipman | May 18, 2008
THE OBSERVER:
US Detains BAE Bosses over Saudi Contracts >>> By Gaby Hinsliff | May 18, 2008
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback - UK)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback - UK)
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
THE GUARDIAN: The arms company BAE failed to pay sufficient attention to ethical standards, laying itself open to accusations of misconduct that have tarnished its reputation, Lord Woolf said today in a report.
BAE, which successfully lobbied to end a Serious Fraud Office inquiry into its multi-billion pound deals with Saudi Arabia, appointed the former lord chief justice to lead an independent committee in a review of current policies and practices.
"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.
"Combined with this was its acceptance of conditions which constrained its ability to explain the full circumstances of its activities.
"These contributed to the 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 Paid Too Little Heed to Ethics, Says Report >>> By Sadie Gray, David Leigh and Rob Evans | May 6, 2008
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback - UK)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback - UK)
Monday, April 21, 2008
DAILY MAIL: A minister in Tanzania accused of taking bribes from Britain's largest arms manufacturer has resigned.
Andrew Chenge quit after being accused of pocketing a backhander when his country bought a £20million military radar system from BAE Systems.
More than £500,000 was found in an offshore account belonging to the infrastructure minister, which is believed to be linked to the 2002 deal.
The company is already under scrutiny over claims it paid illegal "commissions" to win lucrative defence contracts.
The Serious Fraud Office is investigating the Tanzanian deal, which went ahead even though the east African state is one of the world's poorest countries.
Mr Chenge, a Harvard-educated lawyer, was attorney general at the time.
An earlier SFO inquiry into a record £43billion BAE arms deal with Saudi Arabia was stopped by the UK Government. Two weeks ago, the High Court ruled that this had been unlawful. BAE in New Corruption Probe as Tanzanian Minister Resigns over £500,000 Bribery Claim >>> By Daniel Martin | April 21, 2008
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback - UK)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback - UK)
Monday, April 14, 2008
THE TELEGRAPH BLOG: I’m not sure that people have properly grasped the enormity of the BAE–Saudi affair. I mean, look at the language the high court used. The judges dismissed Labour’s contention that British jobs (let alone national security) would be at risk. It was, they said, a clear-cut case of our criminal justice system buckling under pressure from a foreign power. This ought to be such stuff as hauls down governments, pulverises reputations. Yet, after a day of harrumphing, the newspapers moved on.
Why is the nation not more outraged? “We fear for the reputation of the administration of justice if it can be perverted by a threat,” said the judges. “It is not difficult to imagine what they [the Saudis] would think if we attempted to interfere with their criminal justice system.” Quite.
So why are we taking it lying down? Why are people who normally care about British sovereignty not up in arms that we should have thrown ourselves at the feet of foreign despots?
The answer is that the whole affair has been brilliantly spun as a principle versus pragmatism issue. Unless you have been following the case with unusual interest, you will probably have formed the inchoate impression that it one of those questions that pits hard-headed hommes d’affaires against woolly-minded peaceniks. Seeing a coalition of anti-arms trade Guardianistas arrayed on one side, many Tories have unthinkingly lined up on the other.
In fact, the contention that British jobs or British interests were at stake appears wholly groundless. The judges who have picked over the whole sorry business believe that the Saudi Prince Bandar “went into Number Ten and said ‘get it stopped’”. All the bluster about security was, they thought, “a useful pretext”. Falling at the Feet of the Saudis >>> By Daniel Hannan
THE TELEGRAPH BLOG:
Grovelling to Oil Despots Demeans Us All >>> By Daniel Hannan
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback - UK)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback - UK)
Friday, April 11, 2008
THE TELEGRAPH: A bribery investigation into the biggest arms contract in British history could be reopened after the High Court condemned the Government's "abject surrender" to pressure from Saudi Arabia in blocking the inquiry.
Gordon Brown must decide whether he will uphold the decision of his predecessor, Tony Blair, and block a Serious Fraud Office (SFO) inquiry into BAE's £43 billion contract to sell warplanes and weapons systems to the Saudis.
Under pressure from Mr Blair and Lord Goldsmith, his attorney general, the SFO decided in December 2006 to end its investigation into allegations that BAE illegally paid as much as £1 billion in kickbacks to a senior Saudi prince during the 1980s and 1990s as part of the al-Yamamah deal.
The Government intervened after the Saudi government threatened to stop sharing intelligence on Islamic terrorist groups.
Mr Blair said that would have put British national security at risk. The Saudis are also said to have threatened to cancel a contract to buy 72 Eurofighter jets from BAE, but Mr Blair has always denied basing his decision on commercial grounds.
Britain is a member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, whose founding treaty forbids halting criminal investigations for commercial reasons.
Lord Justice Moses and Mr Justice Sullivan have ruled that the SFO was wrong to drop the inquiry.
They condemned the Government's "abject surrender" to a "blatant threat" from a foreign country and ruled that Robert Wardle, the SFO director, had failed to satisfy the court that "all that could reasonably be done had been done to resist the threat". Brown Under Pressure to Re-Open Saudi Arms Inquiry >>> By Christopher Hope and James Kirkup | April 11, 2008
THE TELEGRAPH:
Extravagance Uncovered During Saudi Arms Probe: The Saudi princes and princesses were treated to every extravagance available when they were flown to the Hawaiian paradise island of Oahu in 1998 to enjoy the run of one of the world’s best hotels. The hotel had its own dolphins in a private blue lagoon, spas and “beach butlers” to provide face sprays, cooling drinks and sunshades By Christopher Hope and James Kirkup | April 11, 2008
THE GUARDIAN:
Listen to Guardian Audio - 'Brown Needs to Get the Locks Changed at Number 10': Simon Hill from the Campaign Against the Arms Trade wants the SFO to resume its investigation | April 11, 2008
THE GUARDIAN:
Cash, Contracts and Crown Princes By David Leigh | April 11, 2008
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback - UK)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback - UK)
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