Thursday, April 10, 2008

Gordon Brown is coming under pressure

Gordon Brown is coming under pressure to reopen the Serious Fraud Office inquiry into the multi-billion pound arms deal between BAE and Saudi Arabia.
Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg said the investigation, which was suspended in 2006, must be allowed to continue.
The High Court ruled that the SFO acted unlawfully by dropping the corruption inquiry into the £43bn deal.
BAE was accused of illegal payments to Saudi officials, but the defence company maintains it acted lawfully.
The High Court said the decision to halt the inquiry represented an "abject surrender" to pressure from a foreign government.
Lord Justice Moses said that the SFO and the government had given into "blatant threats" that Saudi co-operation in the fight against terror would end unless the probe into corruption was halted.
The legal challenge had been made by Corner House and the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT), who said the SFO decision was influenced by government concerns about trade and diplomatic ties with Saudi Arabia.
The SFO said national security would have been undermined by the inquiry.
'Independent inquiry'
Following the High Court ruling, Susan Hawley, from The Corner House, said it was a "great day for British justice".
"If he [Gordon Brown] is serious about corruption, then he needs to show that Britain really means business and they are not going to pick and choose which cases are convenient to them and which aren't," she said.
"In effect, the government needs to back off and it would be a scandal if they try to intervene again and get this stopped on national security grounds."
Symon Hill, of CAAT, said: "During Tony Blair's time in government, Robin Cook wrote in his diary that the head of BAE had the keys to the garden door at No 10.

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