Corruption is a Crime

It’s time to end dodgy dealing: back our Al Yamamah campaign

Do ministers in Tanzania take more responsibility than in the UK?

April 22, 2008

Tanzania’s infrastructure minister, Andrew Chenge, resigned at the weekend after “being allegedly linked to a controversial BAE Systems defence contract that is being investigated by Britain’s Serious Fraud Office”, the Daily Telegraph reports.

The newspaper provides some background information:

The SFO is probing a 2002 contract under which BAE supplied Tanzania with a military radar system, a deal that was strongly criticised by aid agencies and politicians, including the then UK International Development Secretary Clare Short.
[...]
Despite the SFO abandoning its high-profile investigation into BAE’s Al Yamamah arms deal with Saudi Arabia, the fraud office has continued to probe several other overseas deals.

Poverty-stricken Tanzania bought a £28m military air traffic control system from BAE, when many experts said a far cheaper civil system would have done.

You can read the full story on the Telegraph website.

Posted in BAE, Tanzania | 1 Comment »