British ministers were reported to be refusing to cooperate with a sensitive US criminal inquiry into allegations of bribes being paid in the UK’s biggest-ever arms export deal with Saudi Arabia. Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has not reacted to an official US request for mutual legal assistance made two months ago for files from an investigation by the UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) that was stopped last December. Legal cooperation is normally automatic between the two major allies, but Smith was said to have refused to pass the request onto the SFO. The BBC reported that the Home Office was still considering the request. The US Justice Department launched an anti-corruption probe into the UK’s biggest defence manufacturer BAE Systems, after reports that payments of over Pnds 1 billion (Dlrs 2 bn) were made to former Saudi Ambassador to the US, Prince Bandar bin Sultan in Washington. Last year, the SFO was forced to halt a criminal investigation into bribery claims surrounding the al-Yamamah deal, which was originally signed in the 1980s, after Prime Minister Tony Blair said it threatened the UK’s national interests with Saudi Arabia.
UK BLOCKS BRIBES INQUIRY INTO ARMS DEAL
British ministers were reported to be refusing to cooperate with a sensitive US criminal inquiry into allegations of bribes being paid in the UK’s biggest-ever arms export deal with Saudi Arabia.
