Those wonderful friends, the Saudis and the French

Dancing with devils can be dangerous to your legal system.

Tony Blair finds himself in an acute dilemma over the threatened cancellation of a £10 billion contract with Saudi Arabia for 72 Eurofighter Typhoons. Riyadh has broken off talks on extending the Al Yamamah arms deal, which since 1986 has earned more than £40 billion for BAE Systems and its partners. The Saudis took this step after the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) had sought access to some of the royal family's Swiss bank accounts.

The SFO was investigating possible cases of bribery under the 2001 Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act. BAE denies having contravened the Act, which came into force in 2002. But while the SFO decides whether to bring charges, Britain's biggest defence contractor could lose the deal to the French, who are offering the Saudis 36 Rafales. That could endanger the jobs of up to 50,000 people in Britain.

The Prime Minister is being urged to call off the investigation, both to safeguard jobs and to prevent a souring of relations with an ally that has provided valuable information in the fight against terrorism...

The original Al Yamamah contract was signed by the British and Saudi governments, which agreed to sort out any difficulties over its implementation between themselves. However, the 2001 Act added a new factor to the British side of the equation, by opening the deal to investigation by the criminal justice system.

The thought of losing out to the less scrupulous French is galling. Nevertheless, despite the huge damage that could be caused by the deplorable slowness of the investigation, the law must be upheld.

Mark C.

Posted by markc at December 1, 2006 04:13 PM