Saudi Arabia, Al-Yamamah Contract and Corruption: The Serious Fraud Office Acted Unlawfully
The judges had harsh words for the attitude of the SFO and the Blair government in never even considering the option of telling the Saudis their threats would be ignored.

"No one suggested to those uttering the threat that it was futile, that the United Kingdom's system of democracy forbad pressure being exerted on an independent prosecutor whether by the domestic executive or by anyone else; no-one even hinted that the courts would strive to protect the rule of law and protect the independence of the prosecutor by striking down any decision he might be tempted to make in submission to the threat."

THE GUARDIAN: The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) acted unlawfully in dropping an investigation into alleged bribery in an arms deal between BAE Systems and Saudi Arabia, the high court ruled today.

In a stunning victory for the activist groups that launched the legal challenge, the two judges said Tony Blair's government and the SFO caved in too readily to threats by Saudi Arabia over intelligence sharing and trade.

Lord Justice Moses and Justice Sullivan, using some scathing language, rejected the SFO's argument that it was powerless to resist the Saudi threats.

"So bleak a picture of the impotence of the law invites at least dismay, if not outrage," they said.

"Had such a threat been made by one who was subject to the criminal law of this country, he would risk being charged with an attempt to pervert the course of justice."

To give in so easily, the judges said, "merely encourages those with power, in a position of strategic and political importance, to repeat such threats, in the knowledge that the courts will not interfere with the decision of a prosecutor to surrender".

Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) and Corner House Research had sought a review of the decision by the SFO director, Robert Wardle, in December 2006 to drop the investigation into allegations of bribery and corruption over the £43bn Al-Yamamah arms deal, agreed by the Thatcher government in 1985.

"No one, whether in this country or outside, is entitled to interfere with the course of our justice," Moses and Sullivan ruled. SFO Wrong to Drop BAE Inquiry, Court Rules >>> By Peter Walker and agencies | April 10, 2008

THE GUARDIAN: The Complete High Court Judgement

Summary of High Court Judgement

Cartoon

FINANCIAL TIMES: UK ‘Unlawfully’ Scrapped BAE Probe: ”No-one, whether within this country or outside, is entitled to interfere with the course of our justice,” Lord Justice Moses told the court. “We intervene in fulfilment of our responsibility to protect the independence of the director and of our criminal justice system from threat.“ By Megan Murphy, Law Courts Correspondent | April 10, 2008

BBC: SFO Unlawful in Ending BAE Probe

Cross-posted at The Shrewd Economist

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback)

Saudi Arms Corruption Denied
DAILY EXPRESS: Claims British civil servants had "connived" in corrupt arms deals with Saudi Arabia for more than 30 years have been denied by Defence Secretary Des Browne.

But recently-discovered documents in the National Archives show Ministry of Defence officials made clear in 1976 the Saudis expected "appropriately discreet arrangements" to be made for payments.



The then head of defence sales at the MoD, Lester Suffield, said that although they were described as "technical consultancy" fees, they were designed to "sway" decisions on the award of arms contracts.



He warned the scale of the payments, which could account for 10% of the total value of a contract, would become "enormous" unless they could somehow be restrained. Saudi Arms Corruption Denied >>>

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Challenge to Serious Fraud Office’s Decision to Halt BAE Fraud Investigation
BBC: Two pressure groups have won a High Court challenge on the legality of the decision to end investigations into BAE Systems' dealings with Saudi Arabia.

Corner House Research and the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) had asked for permission to seek a judicial review.

They want to contest the Serious Fraud Office's decision last year to stop investigations into whether BAE gave money to Saudi officials in the 1980s.

BAE, the UK's largest defence group, has always said it acted lawfully.

Lord Justice Moses, sitting with Mr Justice Irwin, said "matters of concern and public importance" had been raised and the challenge "cries out for a hearing". Court to study BAE fraud decision (more)

Mark Alexander

Al-Yamamah Continues to Be a Source of Embarrassment and Headaches for the British Government
THE TELEGRAPH: Britain could be heading for another diplomatic crisis with Saudi Arabia over the long-running controversy surrounding the 1980s Al-Yamamah arms deal.

There are heightened concerns in Whitehall after America's Department of Justice wrote to the British Government this month formally asking for legal assistance in its recently launched probe into BAE Systems, the UK defence company that supplied fighter jets to Saudi Arabia under the £40bn Al-Yamamah deal. Fresh Al-Yamamah crisis looms (more) By Katherine Griffiths, City Correspondent

THE GUARDIAN:
Diplomatic clash looms with US over BAE arms sale investigation By David Leigh

Mark Alexander

BAE Shares Go Into Freefall
TIMESONLINE: Gordon Brown was today urged to reopen an official corruption inquiry into BAE Systems’ al-Yamamah contract with Saudi Arabia after US authorities announced they were launching their own formal investigation into the defence company.

Vincent Cable, the deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats, told Times Online it was essential the incoming Prime Minister broke with the past and the “sleazy behaviour” of the outgoing Blair administration.

He added: “It is extraordinary and embarrassing that we have to rely on the higher standards of probity in the United States to investigate alleged corruption by a British company in its overseas business operations.

"We would like Gordon Brown to look at the matter again as we didn't agree with the reasons given for the early termination of the Serious Fraud Office inquiry last year." BAE shares plunge as US launches corruption probe: Almost £1.6 billion is cut from the value of BAE as the Department of Justice opens an inquiry into corruption allegations (more) | Steve Hawkes

TIMESONLINE: Tempus: BAE under fire | Steve Hawkes

TIMESONLINE: BAE contract on hold until Saudis forge closer ties with Brown| David Robertson

Mark Alexander

BAE Shares Tumble on News of US Fraud Investigation of the Company
TIMESONLINE: The Department of Justice is looking into corruption allegations surrounding arm deals with Saudi Arabia

The US Department of Justice has begun a formal fraud investigation into BAE Systems, the company has revealed just days after Mike Turner, chief executive, insisted “we’ve got nothing to hide”.

In a short statement today, BAE said US authorities would be looking into the company’s compliance with anti-corruption laws including its business with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Shares in the group tumbled nearly 7 per cent, wiping more than £1 billion from the value of the company. US launches fraud investigation into BAE Systems (more) By Steve Hawkes

THE GUARDIAN:
BAE nosedives on US inquiry

Mark Alexander

Prince Bandar’s Daughter Received “Honeymoon of a Lifetime” at BAE’s Expense, Says Peter Gardiner
THE SUNDAY TIMES: THE British arms firm BAE Systems secretly paid nearly £250,000 for a honeymoon for the daughter of Prince Bandar, the Saudi Arabian prince at the centre of bribery allegations.

A senior BAE executive authorised the payments, allowing Bandar’s daughter to enjoy a six-week honeymoon in luxury resorts in Singapore, Malaysia, Bali, Australia and Hawaii. The couple stayed in five-star hotels costing up to £4,000 a night and had a private jet trip to the Great Barrier Reef.

Peter Gardiner, managing director of the travel agency that organised the honeymoon, said: “BAE instructed me to give Bandar's daughter and her husband the honeymoon of a lifetime at BAE’s expense. Who says that big business doesn’t have a heart?” BAE paid for luxury Saudi honeymoon (more) By David Leppard

SAUDI EMBASSY: Prince Bandar

WIKIPEDIA: Prince Bandar

PBS: Prince Bandar: Interview

BBC: BBC Profile: Prince Bandar

THE GUARDIAN: 'This is an extremely serious allegation ... ': Prince Bandar's statement

MUCKRAKER: Crooked Bank May Be Tie Between Prince Bandar, Big Defense Contractor

DEMOCRACY NOW: Did Bush Cut Secret Oil Deal With Saudis Ahead of 2004 Election?

THE GUARDIAN: Prince used cash in BAE-linked account for palace: Former Saudi ambassador says $17m withdrawal was for legitimate expense By David Leigh and Rob Evans

Mark Alexander

Happy Birthday, Prince Bandar! Here's a Little Gift for You!
THE GUARDIAN: BAE gave Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia an airliner as part of Britain's al-Yamamah arms deal, and the arms firm is still paying the expenses of flying it, the Guardian can disclose. The top of the range, four-engine Airbus 340, worth £75m, was painted in the silver and blue colours of Bandar's favourite American football team, the Dallas Cowboys, and is said to have been presented to him on his birthday in 1998.

According to his most recent approved biographer William Simpson, the aircraft, described as Bandar's "private plane", is heavily used. He says the aircraft flight log includes such destinations as St Lucia in the Caribbean, Rio de Janeiro, Casablanca, Cape Town and Honolulu. BAE bought £75m Airbus for Saudi prince (more) By David Leigh and Rob Evans

Mark Alexander

”Sleazeballs”
The Saudi royal family rules Saudi Arabia as a private enterprise: Each and every contract that comes into the country, they get a cut on. We turn a blind eye to all this, yet when Ciaucescu in Roumania did the very same thing, he was disparaged. It was said that he ran the country as a private enterprise, as though the country belonged to him! He took cuts on all business deals coming into the country. This was, rightly, considered to be a dreadful thing. His wealth, of course, was as nothing in comparison with the wealth of the Saudi royal family. Why do we have these double standards? What, I wonder, is the difference? Why is it so different for the Saudis to behave this way than for the then Roumanian élite? We in the West have such a peculiar way of looking at things! Is it any wonder why we have the enemies we do? - ©Mark Alexander

WATCH THE PANORAMA PROGRAMME ON THE ALLEGED BAE CORRUPTION
BBC: For 21 years allegations of kickbacks have swirled round the biggest arms deal in history - Al Yamamah, the 'dove of peace'

Ever since Mrs Thatcher stepped off her plane resplendent in a Tory blue suit and veiled hat to greet the Saudi King and seal the Tornado warplane sale, the story has generated acres of speculation in newsprint and hours of broadcast time.

Rumours about her own son, Mark's role as a broker have featured large in the headlines.

But until Panorama broke the story of secret payments into accounts controlled by Prince Bandar, the former Saudi ambassador to the United States, no journalists had got to the heart of the matter. Princes, Planes and Pay-offs (more) By Jane Corbin (Panorama)

Al-Yamamah Inquiry: Statements

Goldsmith denies BAE cash claim

Mark Alexander

US Set to Put BAE Through Its Paces
THE TELEGRAPH: Defence giant BAE Systems is to set up an independent committee to probe its ethics in an attempt to head off a possible investigation by the United States' Congress into allegations it paid bribes to win contracts.
Senior Washington sources said the risk of a political backlash against Britain's biggest defence company in the US was growing.

They said it was likely BAE would have to attend Congressional hearings to answer questions about whether it made illegal payments to win a £40 billion deal, known as Al-Yamamah, with Saudi Arabia in the 1980s.
One source said: "America's defence industry will use this to move on BAE. BAE faces US inquiry into bribery allegations (more) By Katherine Griffiths

Anger at BAE move to set up scrutiny body By Katherine Griffiths

Why BAE wants to attack Saudi bribe claim By Russell Hotten

WATCH BBC VIDEO: BAE payments to Saudi prince

Timeline: BAE corruption probe

Mark Alexander

*Carne Ross’ Blog on the Possible Corruption Between BAE and the Saudi Government
THE GUARDIAN: The story of possible corruption between BAE and the Saudi government, and how the British government ignored it, is shocking. But we should not regard this episode as an aberration. Instead, it should force us to question the way foreign policy is thought about and practised in government today.

For decades British policy towards Saudi Arabia has been dominated by al-Yamamah, the massive BAE deal to provide aircraft and supplies. When I worked on the Middle East at the Foreign Office in the mid-90s, it was widely assumed that, along with uninterrupted oil supplies, this was what Britain's Saudi policy was "about". Any other concern, whether of human rights or the export of radical Wahhabi Islam, was by and large secondary.

This assumption was never questioned by officials or ministers. It was just the way things were. To think otherwise, that British policy - "our" policy as we called it (though it was never democratically debated, of course) - should be about human rights or Saudi Arabia's contribution to global security, would have been dismissed as naive or fanciful. We were just being realistic. To the blog - We could pay a grave price for our addiction to arms deals: Working at the Foreign Office I saw how exports took precedence over human rights. With the Saudis, this could backfire

* Carne Ross, a former diplomat, runs Independent Diplomat, a non-profit advisory group. He is the author of Independent Diplomat: Dispatches From an Unaccountable Elite Independentdiplomat.org

Mark Alexander

OECD Poised to Resume Inquiry into Why the British Government Abandoned Its Investigations Into the Allegations of Corruption in BAE
THE GUARDIAN: Attorney general urged to clarify role in concealing $1bn payments to prince

The government was last night fighting to contain the fallout over £1bn in payments to a Saudi prince as the attorney general came under renewed pressure to explain how much he knew about the affair.

While in public the government was issuing partial denials about its role in the controversy, in private there were desperate efforts to secure a new BAE £20bn arms deal with Saudi Arabia.

And any hopes that the furore could be halted were dashed last night when the Guardian learned that the world's anti-corruption organisation, the OECD, was poised to resume its own inquiry into why the British government suddenly abandoned its investigations into the £43bn al-Yamamah arms deal. The Bandar cover-up: who knew what, and when? (more) By David Leigh and Rob Evans

THE GUARDIAN:
BAE files: Shah of Iran

Prince used cash in BAE-linked account for palace: Former Saudi ambassador says $17m withdrawal was for legitimate expense

Mark Alexander

”The Unlovable Saudis”
THE GUARDIAN: Willie Morris
[biography], the British ambassador from 1968 to 1972, could not stand the Saudis. They were "less lovable than some other people", he said.

The border guards were "rude". Despite their stern official religion, "one can find a minister incoherently drunk in his office before noon". Their oil billions led to a "corruption of character which enables the Saudis to regard the rest of the world as existing for their convenience", he wrote in his valedictory dispatch. [document] The unlovable Saudis (more)

THE GUARDIAN: Attorney-general knew of BAE and the £1bn. Then concealed it

BAE files: Ian Gilmour

Corruption in Saudi Arabia

BAE in Saudi Arabia

What BAE sells

Healey’s machine

Britain and the arms trade

Watch video: Denis Healey [BAE files]

BAE: Goldsmith denies BAE cash claim

Mark Alexander

Blair Determined Not to Let Principles Come in the Way of the BAE-Saudi Deal
TIMESONLINE: Tony Blair’s defiant rejection yesterday of calls for a new corruption inquiry into the al-Yamamah arms deal came only days after Des Browne, the Defence Secretary, was given private assurances from Saudi Arabia that it was pressing ahead with the latest lucrative contract with BAE Systems.

Mr Blair said that a new inquiry would lead to the “complete wreckage” of vital national interests as he faced down calls to reverse his decision to halt a Serious Fraud Office probe into the £40 billion Tornado aircraft deal. BAE inquiry ruled out days after secret trip (more)

Mark Alexander

More Allegations of Corruption: BAE in the Spotlight Once Again

Photo of Prince Bandar courtesy of Google Images

THE GUARDIAN: The arms company BAE secretly paid Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia more than £1bn in connection with Britain's biggest ever weapons contract, it is alleged today.

A series of payments from the British firm was allegedly channelled through a US bank in Washington to an account controlled by one of the most colourful members of the Saudi ruling clan, who spent 20 years as their ambassador in the US.

It is claimed that payments of £30m were paid to Prince Bandar every quarter for at least 10 years.

It is alleged by insider legal sources that the money was paid to Prince Bandar with the knowledge and authorisation of Ministry of Defence officials under the Blair government and its predecessors. For more than 20 years, ministers have claimed they knew nothing of secret commissions, which were outlawed by Britain in 2002. BAE accused of secretly paying £1bn to Saudi prince (more) By David Leigh and Rob Evans

THE GUARDIAN: BAE Files: Prince Bandar

Bribing for Britain

BAE’s position

BAE’s Corporate Responsibility Report

Read the documents

Campaign against the arms trade

Cast of characters

Who are David Leigh and Rob Evans

Secrets of Al-Yamamah

Prince Bandar: Biography

Prince Sultan: Biography

FINANCIAL TIMES: BAE 'secretly paid' Saudi prince: Bandar received £100m a year, reports say

TIMESONLINE: BAE shares fall amid new bribery allegations

THE TELEGRAPH: Blair: No new BAE probe despite bribe claims

BBC: Saudi prince 'received arms cash'

WATCH BBC VIDEO: Blair on BAE investigation

SUEDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG: Riesiger Korruptionsskandal bringt Regierung Blair in Bedrängnis

LE MONDE: Un prince saoudien aurait perçu un milliard de livres de pots-de-vin de BAE Systems

TIMESONLINE: Blair under pressure over al-Yamamah 'bribes'

Mark Alexander

Switzerland Begins Criminal Investigations into BAE Amid Suspicions of Money Laundering
TIMESONLINE: THE Swiss authorities have begun a criminal investigation into allegations of bribery and corruption surrounding Britain’s biggest defence firm.

The federal prosecutor’s office said a probe is under way into suspicions of money laundering involving BAE Systems. A spokeswoman for the office, said the inquiry was the result of a report received from the Swiss money-laundering authority.

The move will prove highly embarrassing to the British government, which decided to halt a two-year criminal inquiry by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) into the £40 billion Al Yamamah contract to sell fighter jets and Hawk trainers to Saudi Arabia.

The spokeswoman declined to give further details. Now Switzerland launches bribery probe into BAE (more) By David Leppard

NZZ: Schweiz ermittelt in Affäre um britischen Rüstungskonzern: Verdacht auf Geldwäscherei

Mark Alexander