By Samuel Rubenfeld
The U.K. Serious Fraud Office briefed a private meeting with the OECD Working Group on Bribery about why it shut down its investigation of BAE Systems PLC despite having evidence of the company bribing Saudi officials, according to a diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks.
http://wikileaks.ch/cable/2007/03/07PARIS829.htmlThe Serious Fraud Office's then-deputy director Helen Garlick told the meeting that other
"substantial" payments were made to an unnamed senior Saudi official and to overseas agents employed by the Saudi government, according to the cable, dated March 2007.
The SFO also "discovered
false representations by BAE to conceal the corrupt dealings, which would constitute conspiracy to defraud under U.K. law," the cable said.
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http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hXavdu7-9o4t58QPHUvaQe7qA7QQ?docId=e0a203b41b3841dbb01f270e3cc09882............
WikiLeaks Reveals How the British Lied to OECD about BAE Bribery
By: emptywheel Monday March 14, 2011 12:30 pm
The U.S. delegation took note of the experience and professionalism of U.K. delegation members. The US del inquired into what appeared to be inconsistent accounts relating to differences in views of the SFO Director and Attorney General regarding the merits of the case, reports alleging British intelligence agencies had not joined the government’s assessment that the case raised national and international security interests, and whether the SFO could provide WGB members with assurances that BAE would not continue to make corrupt payments to senior Saudi officials.
The cable is perhaps most interesting because it gives us a glimpse of what the British publicly told the international community about its investigation, the targets, and the reasons for dropping the investigation.
http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2011/03/14/wikileaks-reveals-how-the-british-lied-to-allies-about-bae-bribery/