Corruption is a Crime

Here’s how:

The government has admitted that the chief lobbyist of Britain’s biggest arms company was given an official security pass allowing him to wander freely around the Ministry of Defence.

There’s more in today’s Guardian.

From today’s Sunday Times:

TONY BLAIR struck a secret deal with the king of Saudi Arabia, assuring him that there would be no criminal charges against anyone implicated in bribery in Britain’s biggest arms deal. In July 2005 Blair assured the then crown prince, Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, who is now king, that Britain would abandon an inquiry by the Serious Fraud Office. It concerned a £60m “slush fund” allegedly set up by BAE Systems, Britain’s biggest defence contractor, to support the lifestyle of some members of the Saudi royal family.

You can read the full story here.

The Liberal Democrats have criticised the EU Council of Ministers failure to take seriously monitoring of the UK’s compliance with EU anti-corruption rules*. In answer to a question from London Euro MP Baroness Sarah Ludford, the Council said that it is not obliged to comment on compliance with the 2003 European anti-corruption law.

Sarah criticised the Council as shrugging off responsibility:

Lack of concern about a UK ‘blind eye’ to corruption contrasts starkly with the EU’s asserted determination to root out corruption in new member states Romania and Bulgaria and applicant countries.

Given that the OECD is sending investigators to London, Sarah pointed out that the lack of response from the EU over the dropping of the SFO investigation into the BAE Saudi deal makes the issue embarrassing not only for the UK government but also for the EU.

(*Specifically Article 9 of Council Framework Decision 2003/568/JHA on combating corruption in the private sector.)

Anti-corruption investigators are to be sent to the UK to dig into why the Labour Government axed the investigation into allegations of corruption by British Aerospace in the Al Yamamah arms deal.

In what will be a major embarrassment to Labour’s claims to be tough on crime, the OECD has decided it needs to send a team to make on-site inquiries into Labour’s highly controversial decision.

The OECD says it has “serious concerns” over the case and that legal changes are required to bring Britain’s anti-corruption measures up to scratch. The Liberal Democrats have been pushing for a full independent inquiry into why the charges were dropped - and you can sign our petition on the right to add your voice to the campaign.

The Associated Press has more on the story as does the OECD’s own website.

UPDATE: Lib Dem MP Vince Cable says:

This news is particularly significant as it represents the views of other western governments, all of whom are trying to implement anti-bribery legislation. These countries clearly believe their attempts to tackle bribery are being undermined by the refusal of the British Government to pursue a prosecution.

Although UK investigations into allegations of corruption in the Al Yamamah arms deal were dropped, BAE has been the subject of more widespread corruption allegations which, because they do not involve Saudi Arabia, would not fall foul of the same problems.

A particular issue could be whether BAE didn’t tell the Government the full story when getting financial support for other arms deals:

Serious Fraud Office director Robert Wardle said he is looking into suggestions that BAE gave untruthful information to the [British Government’s] Export Credits Guarantee Department about arms deals … The SFO is looking into a £1.6bn sale of Hawk jets to South Africa and £116m of reconditioned Royal Navy frigates sold to Romania. It wants to know if BAE’s application to the ECGD failed to admit to bribery.

Read the full story at thisismoney.co.uk

From today’s Guardian:

The government faces more international criticism this week over its decision to halt the Serious Fraud Office investigation into allegedly corrupt Saudi arms deals. The world’s leading anti-bribery watchdog yesterday began secret talks at a three-day meeting to decide whether to punish Britain over the controversial decision.

You can read the full story here.

Although the criminal investigation into BAE has been dropped in the UK, BAE may still face prosecution in the US. If people or firms in the US were involved in any backhanders, then they could be open to prosecution in the US - regardless of what the British government has done.

Lib Dem Deputy Leader Vince Cable MP recently asked the UK government about the US link and got a limited but intriguing answer.