Al-Yamamah arms deal
'The Dove') is the name of a series of record arms sales by the United Kingdom to Saudi Arabia, paid for by the delivery of up to 600,000 barrels (95,000 m3) of crude oil per day to the British government.
A Ministry of Defence briefing paper for Thatcher detailed her involvement in the negotiations:[15] Since early 1984, intensive efforts have been made to sell Tornado and Hawk to the Saudis.
When, in the Autumn of 1984, they seemed to be leaning towards French Mirage fighters, Mr Heseltine paid an urgent visit to Saudi Arabia, carrying a letter from the Prime Minister to King Fahd.
[17] In December 2004, the Commons Trade Committee chairman, Martin O'Neill, accused the Government of being foolish for concealing a £1 billion guarantee they have given to BAE Systems.
In an editorial the magazine also raises the prospect of a requirement for a new lead-in fighter trainer to replace the earlier generation of Hawk 65/65As and to provide adequate training for transition of pilots to the advanced Typhoon.
[21] BAE System's 2005 Interim Report noted that three RSAF Tornado IDS' arrived at their Warton facility for design evaluation tests with the ultimate aim being "to improve serviceability, address obsolescence, and enhance and sustain the capability of the aircraft".
[22][verification needed] There have been numerous allegations that the Al Yamamah contracts were a result of bribes to members of the Saudi royal family and government officials.
Some allegations suggested that the former prime minister's son Mark Thatcher may have been involved; however, he has strongly denied receiving payments or exploiting his mother's connections in his business dealings.
[23] In February 2001, the solicitor of a former BAE Systems employee, Edward Cunningham, notified Serious Fraud Office of the evidence that his client was holding which related to an alleged "slush fund".
In June 2007 the BBC's investigative programme Panorama alleged that BAE Systems "paid hundreds of millions of pounds to the ex-Saudi ambassador to the US, Prince Bandar bin Sultan".
[29] In his book, David Wearing uses the example of F&C Asset Management, a major institutional investor, who (despite benefiting in the short term) warned the defence procurement minister that it would reduce the efficient functioning of financial markets as a whole.
[41] On 1 December, The Daily Telegraph ran a front-page headline suggesting that Saudi Arabia had given the UK ten days to suspend the Serious Fraud Office investigation into BAE/Saudi Arabian transactions or they would take the deal to France,[41] but this threat was played down in other quarters.
"[42] There were reports of a systematic PR campaign operated by Tim Bell through newspaper scare stories, letters from business owners and MPs in whose constituencies the factories were located to get the case closed.
Article 5 of the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery prohibits the decision to drop investigations into corruption from being influenced by considerations of the national economic interest or the potential effect upon relations with another state.
[43] This prompted the investigation team to consider striking an early guilty plea deal with BAE that would minimise the intrusiveness to Saudi Arabia and mitigate damage.
That same day, Prince Bandar met with Foreign Office officials,[44] after spending a week with Jacques Chirac to negotiate a French alternative to the BAE deal.
It was Blair's opinion that "Any proposal that the investigation be resolved by parties pleading guilty to certain charges would be unlikely to reduce the offence caused to the Saudi Royal Family, even if the deal were accepted, and the process would still drag out for a considerable period".
[38] The statement in the House of Lords read: The Director of the Serious Fraud Office has decided to discontinue the investigation into the affairs of BAE Systems plc as far as they relate to the Al Yamamah defence contract.
"[49] Jonathan Aitken, a former Conservative government minister and convicted perjurer, who was connected with the deals in the 1980s, said that even if the allegations against BAE were true, it was correct to end the investigation to maintain good relations with Saudi Arabia.
[50] Mark Pieth, director of anti-fraud section at the OECD, on behalf of France, Greece, Japan, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States, addressed a formal complaint letter before Christmas 2006 to the Foreign Office, seeking explanation as to why the investigation had been discontinued.
[51] Transparency International and Labour MP Roger Berry, chairman of the Commons Quadripartite Committee, urged the government to reopen the corruption investigation.
[52] In a newspaper interview, Robert Wardle, head of the Serious Fraud Office, acknowledged that the decision to terminate the investigation may have damaged "the reputation of the UK as a place which is determined to stamp out corruption".
[56] The Times described the ruling as "one of the most strongly worded judicial attacks on government action" which condemned how "ministers "buckled" to "blatant threats" that Saudi cooperation in the fight against terror would end unless the ... investigation was dropped.
