Corruption is a Crime

From the Financial Times:

A top BAE Systems executive and ex-defence official has been questioned by investigators over a suspected bribery plot involving a Viennese count to win European arms contracts, the Financial Times has learned.

Julian Scopes – BAE’s former head of government affairs and former private secretary to Alan Clark, the late Tory defence minister – was interviewed at Guildford police station on Sunday by the Serious Fraud Office, people familiar with the matter said.

The questioning of Mr Scopes highlights the top-level business and government interests that have turned the BAE case into an explosive affair for both the company and ministers.

Mr Scopes, 55, was interviewed as part of an SFO probe into a suspected conspiracy to bribe people in high positions over arms deals in countries including Austria and the Czech Republic, people close to the matter said.

The Guardian reports today that prosecutors from the Sweden, Austria and the Czech Republic will meet with representatives of the UK’s Serious Fraud Office in The Hague next week “to co-ordinate their corruption investigations into BAE.”

The meeting of prosecutors will take place under the aegis of an EU body called Eurojust, set up in 2003 to fight organised crime. Law enforcement sources said the prosecutors expected to share information and decide which countries were best placed to bring any charges.

The newspaper also reports that Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader Vince Cable has been keeping up the pressure on the Labour Government:

Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat deputy leader, this week renewed his attack on the UK government for blocking the SFO’s Saudi investigation. In an adjournment debate on Tuesday night, he accused BAE of passing secret funds through an undeclared British Virgin Islands company and asked: “Is that compatible with the Treasury’s rules about money laundering?”

He also demanded that the UK express confidence in Mark Pieth, head of the OECD’s anti-bribery watchdog, which is reviewing claims that Britain broke an international treaty by halting the Saudi investigation in order to protect its relations with the Saudi ruling family.

The full story is here.