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Britain

Saudis to British: convict us of fraud and we'll cancel your £10 billion contract

2006-12-01

Saudi Arabia has given Britain 10 days to halt a fraud investigation into the country's arms trade - or lose a £10 billion Eurofighter contract.
That's pretty .. blunt.
The contract supports up to 50,000 British jobs and there are now fears that the deal may go to France.

The Saudi government is on the verge of cancelling the contract - an extension of one brokered by Margaret Thatcher 20 year ago - because of a Serious Fraud Office investigation into allegations of a slush fund for members of the Saudi royal family, according to authoritative sources.

Tony Blair has been told that the deal faces the axe in 10 days unless he intervenes to bring the two-year investigation to a close. The Saudis are said to be "outraged" by the probe into the activities of companies linked to BAE Systems. The investigation concerns alleged illegal payments made to members of the Saudi royal family and their agents. The country's advisers have made clear through diplomatic channels that unless the inquiry is closed, the kingdom's arms business will be taken elsewhere.
So, it's pretty clear - enforce your own laws and we punish you for doing so. I think we call this "loss of sovereignty". I understand it used to happen to China back when they were getting their butts kicked in the 1800s.
The Saudis are understood to have already opened negotiations with the French about buying 36 rival Rafale jets.

Am I allowed to guess that the French have no problems paying bribes to the Saoodis, and that evidence of such bribes will never make its way to Le Monde?

Posted by:gromky

#6 Tsk, tsk.

Posted by: gromgoru 2006-12-01 23:45

#5 US firms are constrained by the Foreign Corrupt Practices act. The French are the acknowledged masters of the bribe. The other EU guys try, but the frogs are in a class by themselves.

Posted by: RWV 2006-12-01 15:15

#4 Sit back boys, and watch just how fast the Brit's will reach for the vasoline®! It all comes down to how many care, at what the SFO does, compared to the 50,000 angry resulting voting voices, are heard demanding.

Posted by: smn 2006-12-01 13:49

#3 So this investigation appears to have some serious legs; otherwise the Cameljockeys would just let it run and then demand all sorts of apologies when the results came in. What is interesting is the resounding silence from the British firms that are the targets of the investigations. It appears that they ran to 'Daddy Saud' and hid behind his leg.

Posted by: USN, ret. 2006-12-01 13:41

#2 Blockade Saudi Arabia and see who laughs last. Pull all US personnel out of the oilfields and everywhere else. Close all Saudi banks in the US. Restrict the travel of the Saudi delegation to the US, and cut off all funding for new mosques. Do the same for France if they accept this kind of blackmail.

The United States has been a pushover in foreign policy ever since the Johnson administration (and maybe even before, the evidence is just harder to get to). We need to stand up and let the world know we're tired of 'business as usual', and will insist upon some changes. Ninety-percent of new technology comes from three Western states - the US, Japan, and Great Britain. If we stand together the rest of the world will find it difficult to stand against us.

Posted by: Old Patriot 2006-12-01 13:18

#1 I find this rather funny. I recall losing business to European firms because they, as a matter or course, paid baksheesh and bribes without blinking. The French and Germans were worse, but the Brits were close behind. I would wager that all Western countries have laws on the books, of varying quality and punishment, that are meant to stop this. Enforcement was nonexistent in Europe, and occasionally spotty here in the US... And what supremely arrogant snots they were, too, when walking away with the deal and laughing about the foolish and unsophisticated Americans. That's how it's done, old boy... Lol.

Posted by: .com 2006-12-01 10:07

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