Documents released in Britain's High Court on Feb. 15 disclosed Saudi
threats against the government of then-Prime Minister Tony Blair in an
effort to halt an investigation of an alleged BAE slush fund for Saudi
princes responsible for
weapons procurement. The documents warned that without Saudi cooperation, Al
Qaida could succeed in a major strike similar to that of the bombings of
London's mass transit system in 2005.
In the United States, Bandar has been prevented by a federal court from
transferring proceeds of property sales. The temporary restraining order was
part of a suit brought by BAE shareholders who argued that the $2 billion
received by Bandar represented bribes.
"As far as we know, we have seen nothing that suggests that anybody [in
the British government] did anything other than just roll over in the face
of that [Saudi threats]," Moses, the British judge, said. "If that had
happened in our jurisdiction, they would have been guilty of a criminal
offense."
The heavily-censored court documents, presented in a two-day hearing,
asserted that Bandar arrived in London in July 2006 determined to end the
British police investigation of BAE. Soon after Bandar's threats, Blair
forced the Serious Fraud Office investigation to end its two-year-old
investigation, which focused on the prince and his family.
"We had been told that 'British lives on British streets' were at
risk,'" Helen Garlick, assistant director of Britain's Serious Fraud Office,
recalled in a note presented to the High Court. "If this caused another 7/7
[July 7, 2005 bombings] how could we say that our investigation, which
at this stage might or might not result in a successful prosecution, was
more important?"
In 2007, Riyad agreed to purchase 72 Eurofighter Typhoon jets from BAE
in an $8.9 billion sale. Petitioners to the High Court linked the British
decision
to end the police investigation to the Saudi aircraft order.
"Although some companies have sought to excuse bribery on the basis that
jobs would be lost if bribes were not paid, the flip side of the coin is the
extent to which companies lose business either because they are unwilling to
pay bribes or because they are out-bribed by competitors," Corner House
director Nicholas Hildyard said in a statement to the court.
Campaign Against Arms Trade and Corner House, the petitioners, have
called for the resumption of the police investigation into BAE. A member of
the two-judge High Court panel that has been hearing the case said the Blair
government never tried to persuade the Saudis to withdraw their threats.
"What really puzzles me is why weren't the Saudis told, 'Hang on, this
is just an investigation, and there may not even be any evidence?'" Lord
Justice Alan Moses asked.
Philip Sales, who represented the Serious Fraud Office, said Riyad
threatened to end counter-insurgency cooperation with London unless the BAE
investigation was halted. Sales said the Saudi threat came amid Al Qaida
plots against Britain.
"We in the UK can't compel the Saudi Arabian government to adopt a
different stance," Sales told the court. "There was no other viable choice
available to the director other than to accept, with very great reluctance,
that the investigation should be stopped."
BAE was said to have lobbied Attorney General Peter Goldsmith to end
the police investigation. When the company failed, BAE recruited ministers
and their Saudi associates to warn that national security could be harmed.
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