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'National interest' halts arms corruption inquiry---
Saudi Arabia
From World Press Network
Major criminal investigation stopped
- A major criminal investigation into alleged corruption by the arms company BAE Systems and its executives was stopped in its tracks yesterday when the prime minister claimed it would endanger Britain's security if the inquiry was allowed to continue.
- The destruction of its inquiry will be a severe blow to the SFO which has spent more than £2m on what was its most extensive current investigation, and taken hundreds of pages of statements from witnesses.
Blair defends Saudi probe ruling
- Critics argue the government had succumbed to Saudi threats to pull out of a deal to buy 72 Eurofighter jets from BAE, amid reports the Saudi royal family was prepared to ditch the contract and deal with France instead.
- The Lib Dems have called for an inquiry and accused the government of putting cash before principle and said it was a "sad day" for the rule of law in Britain.
- Lib Dem peer, Lord Goodhart, told the BBC's Today programme: "I think what has happened here is that we have been bounced into this decision by what is effectively blackmail by the Saudi Arabian government."
- He added: "It is clear it was not the SFO's own decision, and it was not something that was instigated by the SFO. This came from the top."
- WPN Note : The above paragraph, which appeared in the initial BBC report, has been removed from the current BBC report [without any note or comment]. We wonder who "objected" to it ? Too close to the truth for comfort ?
- The government and the SFO have both said "no weight" was given to economic interests.
WPN Note : The government statement above, that "no weight was given to economic interests", is just not credible. When will the government realise that the public will not trust anything they say until the government and most politicians stop treating the public as "serfs" who shouldn't question what they are told, and who are to be kept too busy with day-to-day life (especially taxes and expenses) so that don't have the time, energy, or resources to hold the government or politicians to account.
"British lectures on the "rule of law" will lose some of their force."
- Foreign competitors will see another performance by 'perfidious Albion', as the British government holds its hand on its heart and promises that commercial interests have played no part.
- Other governments - and frankly, many of the British workers engaged on the project - will not believe that the size of the contract in question was not the determining factor. It is for 72 Typhoon Eurofighters from BAE.
- It is a classic of its kind in diplomatic and legal history.
- Yet, the attorney general affirmed, the decision had been for the Serious Fraud Office alone, who had not been "under pressure in any sense."
- WPN Note : The above statement is just not credible.
- The Liberal Democrats called it "blackmail" by Saudi Arabia and a violation of an international convention, contradicted Article 5 of the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions which says that states should "not be influenced by considerations of national economic interest [or] the potential effect upon relations with another state".
- WPN Note : What message does this send to foreign business men : i.e. do they now have to make even bigger bribes to stay in business ? Also, what about the implications for third-world debt ? Can't the debtor countries now say that bribery was a fundamental part of the loan system, and as thus the loans and dependent transactions were a fraud against the people of that third-world country, and thus not repayable ?
- Cue cynicism from around the world.
- And we have been here before. In 2001 the British parliament passed the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act, which banned the bribery of officials aboard. Payments made before that law was passed did not result in any prosecutions either.
- Nobody anywhere is therefore surprised at this new decision.
- WPN Note : Is the above statement a BBC admission that Britain has no moral standing in the eyes of the world ? Has Britain's reputation fallen as far down as the US's reputation ? The old adage that "you can judge a person by the company he keeps" seems to apply to nations as well. 'Sleaze' taint may cling to Blair
Fighter aircraft fraud probe ends
- The Serious Fraud Office has ended its corruption inquiry into a £6bn fighter planes deal with Saudi Arabia.
- Attorney General Lord Goldsmith said the decision had been made in the wider public interest, which had to be balanced against the rule of law.
- Lord Goldsmith said that both Mr Blair and Defence Secretary Des Browne had argued that carrying on the investigation would harm intelligence and diplomatic co-operation with Saudi Arabia, in turn damaging the UK's national security.
- "No one is going to win any Saudi business until this SFO investigation ends " Senior defence executive
- The SFO said "No weight has been given to commercial interests or to the national economic interest."
WPN Note : It seems clear that the prosecutors, the SFO, was leant on to drop this investigation. Indeed, when the Attorney general says you have to balance against the rule of law, it seems to be an admission that the law was broken, but due to the national interest (which seems to be defined as including national security), the investigation should be "discontinued". The SFO might "technically" not have lied if they thought that the issue was national security, but the main issue was bound to be commercial/economic (and national security as a by-product). i.e. The SFO statement is a way to gloss over a break in the law.
Probe 'threat' to British firms
- Top British defence and manufacturing firms have written to the government to warn that billions of pounds could be lost in contracts with Saudi Arabia.
- The DIC's letter is the latest twist in the row over an inquiry into bribes allegedly paid in the huge Al-Yamamah arms deal won by BAE Systems.
- It says the threat extends to the UK industrial base and to British security.
WPN Note : A transparent and representative government should have nothing to fear from a probe into bribery. Indeed, a bribe paid by a supplier is effectively an increase in the "official" price charged to that purchasing country, i.e. it is embezzlement of funds from the citizens of that purchasing country (as well as undermining the faith of shareholders in the company paying the bribe). Furthermore, bribery undermines the level competitive playing field between countries which, for legal (or moral) reasons, refuse to pay bribes. As such, it is in Saudi Arabia's interest for this matter to be properly investigated. The SFO should NOT be placed under political pressure to close the investigation
Saudi Arabia to pressure Iran "using money, weapons or its oil power" but not Israel ?
Saudi will intervene in Iraq if US withdraws-aide "using money, weapons or its oil power"
- If the Saudis are prepared to flood the oil market to hurt the Iranians, why can't they put pressure on the Israelis by restricting supply ? Why is it OK to use Oil markets to "pressure" the Iranians, but not the Israelis ?
Saudis reportedly funding Iraqi Sunnis
- Maybe the public is being "prepared" for an invasion of "Saudi Arabia" (or "regime change"), ignoring the huge possibility that the US has already decided to switch support from the Iraq Shiites to the Iraqi Sunnis (i.e. the "insurgents" who now Saudi Arabia is being accused of funding -- the Saudis are probably following "orders" from the US anyway).
Shit Hits Fan! Saudis to Back Sunni Insurgency in Iraq
- When did they tell us this? Remember when Dick Chenney got summoned to Saudi Arabia? Yup, that's when. They called Dick and told him to go fuck himself (kind of poetic justice, don't you think?). They told him that regardless of what's good for America, America must do what's good for Saudi Arabia.
- As a result of our fucking up Iraq, now the entire middle east (majority Sunni Arabs, even though they are the minority in Iraq) is now ready for a bloody civil war. Iran is interested in supporting the Shiites and increasing its influence while Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and others are interested in protecting their influence. Is this what George Bush meant when he talked about transforming the middle east? Transform it into total chaos?
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