BAE admits wrongdoing after US justice department lays out how British firm used intermediaries to hide money
David Leigh and Rob Evans
guardian.co.uk, Friday 5 February 2010
"The Saudi contract called al-Yamamah – which means "the dove" – was Britain's largest-ever arms agreement, and the source of intense scrutiny and controversy ever since it was signed in the mid-1980s.
Today – after years of denying claims of corruption and bribes – the company finally admitted that the deal was mired in wrongdoing.
The US department of justice today filed a telling indictment to which BAE has agreed to plead guilty.
It says, among other accusations, that BAE "used intermediaries and shell entities to conceal payments to certain advisers who were assisting in the … [Saudi] fighter deals".....
It was important enough for the then prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, to be involved in helping to clinch the long-running deal in 1985. And, standing behind the politicians at the signing ceremony, was the smiling Prince Bandar, son of the Saudi defence minister [now crown prince] Sultan. It was later to become plain how much he had to be pleased about......
It transpired that Tony Blair had written a "secret and personal" letter to Goldsmith demanding that he stop the investigation.
He hoped for a new arms deal from the Saudis. Plus, he claimed, there was a "real and immediate risk of a collapse in UK/Saudi security, intelligence and diplomatic co-operation"......"
David Leigh and Rob Evans
guardian.co.uk, Friday 5 February 2010
"The Saudi contract called al-Yamamah – which means "the dove" – was Britain's largest-ever arms agreement, and the source of intense scrutiny and controversy ever since it was signed in the mid-1980s.
Today – after years of denying claims of corruption and bribes – the company finally admitted that the deal was mired in wrongdoing.
The US department of justice today filed a telling indictment to which BAE has agreed to plead guilty.
It says, among other accusations, that BAE "used intermediaries and shell entities to conceal payments to certain advisers who were assisting in the … [Saudi] fighter deals".....
It was important enough for the then prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, to be involved in helping to clinch the long-running deal in 1985. And, standing behind the politicians at the signing ceremony, was the smiling Prince Bandar, son of the Saudi defence minister [now crown prince] Sultan. It was later to become plain how much he had to be pleased about......
It transpired that Tony Blair had written a "secret and personal" letter to Goldsmith demanding that he stop the investigation.
He hoped for a new arms deal from the Saudis. Plus, he claimed, there was a "real and immediate risk of a collapse in UK/Saudi security, intelligence and diplomatic co-operation"......"
Bandar: We Are Corrupt; So What!
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