Corruption is a Crime

Whilst the UK Government decided to axe Britain’s investigation into corruption allegations arrising from the Al Yamamah arms deal with Saudi Arabia, the Swiss are cooperating with the US’s own investigation:

Swiss prosecutors have also agreed to hand over financial records linked to the Saudi Royal family, according to a report by the Guardian newspaper. A US source told the paper “The investigators are confident they can get what they need from Switzerland. That’s where all the BAE arrangements were made”.

Read more in Arabian Business.

The New York Times reports:

As far back as July 2002, representatives from the State, Justice and Defense departments, as well as the C.I.A., sat down in Washington with senior British officials from the Ministry of Defense to complain about suspected bribery by BAE in Central Europe, the Persian Gulf and South Africa.

Sir Kevin Tebbit, then Britain’s permanent under secretary of the Ministry of Defense, rejected the suspicions as baseless. American officials who participated in the meeting later nicknamed him Sir Topham Hatt after a character in the Thomas the Tank Engine children’s series because of what they said was “his almost haughty disdain for the allegations of bribery involving BAE” and the manner in which he challenged them to detail evidence of wrongdoing…

American officials say they believe that the Hungarian and Czech governments were influenced by payments. They cite a C.I.A. briefing during which they were told that BAE paid millions of dollars to the major political parties in Hungary to win the contracts there.

Hat tip: Guido Fawkes.

From 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…

British ministers are refusing to grant a six-month-old official request from the US department of justice for mutual legal assistance, in defiance of the UK’s anti-bribery treaty obligations. This follows the suppression of Britain’s own Serious Fraud Office investigation, which was abandoned last year on the grounds that the inquiry might jeopardise national security.

The Government’s decision to drop the inquiry into corruption around the Al Yamamah arms deal is facing new scrutiny from the courts after campaigners won a request for a judicial review.

Corner House Research and Campaign Against the Arms Trade won their request for a judicial review after the judges ruled that “the challenge cries out for a hearing” and raises “matters of concern and public importance”.

Liberal Democrat leader Vince Cable comments:

“I am delighted that this is going to get a full hearing in the High Court.

“It is in the public interest to fully investigate the circumstances surrounding the dropping of this important investigation.

“It appears that the judiciary is more open than the British Government.”

Liberal Democrat MP John Pugh is demanding that a secret National Audit Office (NAO) report into the Al Yamamah arms deal is published.

His call follows revelations that Sir John Bourn, the NAO’s chief who resigned days ago, has received hospitality from BAE, the firm at the centre of bribery allegations over the Al Yamamah deal.

‘We will be looking to bring the deal back on to the agenda, as a result of Sir John Bourn’s departure and his conflict of interest issues,’ Liberal Democrat MP John Pugh said.

You can read more in Accountancy Age.