US pressured Blair into arms bribery inquiry
By Francis Elliott
Published: 03 December 2006
A bribery investigation threatening the future of 50,000 British jobs followed heavy pressure on Tony Blair from George Bush's administration, The Independent on Sunday can reveal.
Saudi Arabia says it will scrap an order with BAE Systems for 72 Eurofighter Typhoons worth around £40bn unless the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) stops probing previous arms deals with the company.
The Arab nation has reportedly set a deadline that expires this week for the investigation to be called off.
Now documents released under US freedom of information laws reveal how the probe followed arm-twisting by the Bush administration.
They show how Britain's most senior defence civil servant was taken to task by the Pentagon over "a longstanding, widespread pattern of bribery allegations involving BAE systems" in July 2002. CONTINUED
Published: 03 December 2006
A bribery investigation threatening the future of 50,000 British jobs followed heavy pressure on Tony Blair from George Bush's administration, The Independent on Sunday can reveal.
Saudi Arabia says it will scrap an order with BAE Systems for 72 Eurofighter Typhoons worth around £40bn unless the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) stops probing previous arms deals with the company.
The Arab nation has reportedly set a deadline that expires this week for the investigation to be called off.
Now documents released under US freedom of information laws reveal how the probe followed arm-twisting by the Bush administration.
They show how Britain's most senior defence civil servant was taken to task by the Pentagon over "a longstanding, widespread pattern of bribery allegations involving BAE systems" in July 2002. CONTINUED
posted by Kangaroo Brisbane Australia at 3:02 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home