Desecration of Holy Quran: Saudi Arabia Urges Restraint
THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE: ISLAMABAD – A special emissary of the Saudi monarch, Prince Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz al Saud, called on President Asif Ali Zardari on Friday and discussed ways and means to curb the rising incidence of religious intolerance and disharmony.

The two leaders are said to discuss the desecration of the Holy Quran in the United States.

Secretary-General to the President Salman Faruqui and Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir also attended the meeting.

Prince Bandar, who is the former secretary-general of the Saudi National Security Council and a former envoy of his country to Washington, is on a short visit to Pakistan.

Terming the visit significant, sources said: “He has come as a special emissary of King Abdullah.” » | Irfan Ghauri / Qaiser Butt | Saturday, March 26, 2011

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE: Pakistan condemns burning of Holy Quran: ISLAMABAD – Warning of a strong backlash, Pakistan on Tuesday condemned the reported burning of a copy of the Holy Quran in Florida, USA, and asked the United Nations to take cognisance of the gruesome act. » | Maha Mussadaq / Summera Khan | Wednesday, March 23, 2011

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE: US condemns Quran desecration: ISLAMABAD – US State Department Spokesperson Mark C Toner on Friday condemned the burning of the Holy Quran by pastors in Florida, saying “we condemn such acts as disrespectful, intolerant and divisive.” » | Quatrina Hosein | Saturday, March 26, 2011

Falling at the Feet of the Saudis
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)

”Abject Surrender to a Blatant Threat” from Saudi Arabia
"This investigation was blocked supposedly to protect our security, but it looks increasingly like it was done to protect BAE sales by appeasing the Saudi government. - Mr Clegg
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)

Secret Papers Reveal Threats from Prince Bandar If British Government Refused to Drop Inquiry into Corruption at BAE
Photo of Prince Bandar, head of Saudi Arabia’s national security, courtesy of The Guardian
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)

US Obtains Swiss Records and Flies in British Witness in BAE Investigation
· 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

On Prince Bandar

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

Prince Bandar Defends Himself
KUWAIT TIMES: RIYADH: Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan, facing accusations he personally received 1 billion pounds ($2 billion) under a British arms deal, said yesterday the funds were transfers between official Saudi bank accounts. Saudi prince defends funds as govt transfers (more)

Mark Alexander

Pressure Mounts on Ministers After Claims MoD Administered Payments to Prince Bandar
THE GUARDIAN:
· BBC says officials processed payments
· Goldsmith refuses to answer questions
Pressure was mounting on ministers for full disclosure of the government's role in Britain's biggest arms deal last night after claims that the Ministry of Defence directly administered payments of more than £1bn to Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia.

The MoD refused to address the specific allegations, made in BBC's Panorama, while the attorney general, Lord Goldsmith, continued to stonewall questions over his role in the affair. BAE, the weapons manufacuturer at the centre of the controversy, remained silent. MoD accused over role in Bandar's £1bn (more) | 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

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

Blair Pushes for Deal with Saudis Despite the Growing Stink
THE TELEGRAPH: Tony Blair wants to sign a new £20 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia before he leaves office later this month despite the mounting row over allegations of secret payments to a Saudi prince, Government sources indicated yesterday.

Saudi Arabia had been on the brink of concluding the deal to supply Eurofighter Typhoon jets to Riyadh when fresh allegations emerged that BAE Systems had paid £1 billion in backhanders to Prince Bandar bin Sultan, former Saudi ambassador to the US.

The Prime Minister still hopes to clinch the deal before he leaves No 10 on June 27 - six months after the Serious Fraud Office was told to drop an investigation into the bribery allegations. Blair fends off row to ‘to press for Saudi deal’ (more) | George Jones

THE TIMES: Pressure mounts for Goldsmith to explain role in arms deal

Mark Alexander

The Bush Administration, Prince Bandar, King Abdullah, and Humpty Dumpty

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall

Image courtesy of Google Images
NEW YORK TIMES: WASHINGTON, April 28 — No foreign diplomat has been closer or had more access to President Bush, his family and his administration than the magnetic and fabulously wealthy Prince Bandar bin Sultan of Saudi Arabia.

Prince Bandar has mentored Mr. Bush and his father through three wars and the broader campaign against terrorism, reliably delivering — sometimes in the Oval Office — his nation’s support for crucial Middle East initiatives dependent on the regional legitimacy the Saudis could bring, as well as timely warnings of Saudi regional priorities that might put it into apparent conflict with the United States. Even after his 22-year term as Saudi ambassador ended in 2005, he still seemed the insider’s insider. But now, current and former Bush administration officials are wondering if the longtime reliance on him has begun to outlive its usefulness.

Bush administration officials have been scratching their heads over steps taken by Prince Bandar’s uncle, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, that have surprised them by going against the American playbook, after receiving assurances to the contrary from Prince Bandar during secret trips he made to Washington. A Saudi Prince Tied to Bush Is Sounding Off-Key

Mark Alexander