Tag Archives: saudi arabia

Stephen Tall

Opinion: A stench that starts at the very top

By Stephen Tall | Fri 8th June 2007 - 9:41 am

Yet more news, as reported in today’s Guardian, of the Labour Government’s complicity in bribes paid by BAE to a Saudi prince to secure a huge arms deal:

British investigators were ordered by the attorney-general Lord Goldsmith to conceal from international anti-bribery watchdogs the existence of payments totalling more than £1bn to a Saudi prince, the Guardian can disclose.

The money was paid into bank accounts controlled by Prince Bandar for his role in setting up BAE Systems with Britain’s biggest ever arms deal. Details of the transfers to accounts in the US were discovered by officers from the Serious Fraud

…

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Mark Pack

Corruption is a crime

By Mark Pack | Fri 2nd March 2007 - 4:00 pm

The story of how Labour axed criminal investigations into bribery over the UK’s big arms deal with Saudi Arabia has been a favourite of various Lib Dem blogs (including this one), particularly given the rather curious continued silence from the Tories on the issue. (Tough on crime? Err, only sometimes, when it suits, if it’s not too much bother and when we’ve finished changing our clothes.)

The party’s now launched a new online petition and campaign website on the subject: www.corruptionisacrime.com

It’s one of a series of initiatives over the next few weeks backing up the party’s major crime campaign, …

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Mark Pack

How to explain away any crime, Labour-style

By Mark Pack | Sun 28th January 2007 - 12:34 pm

In today’s Politics Show interview with Tony Blair, Blair came up with a pretty comprehensive excuse for not investigating a crime:

This was all to do with historical events in the past

(The Saudi Arabian arms deal corruption investigation being the cause of the quesiton, unsurprisingly.) 

So that’s ok, as long as your crime was in the past, it’s not worth investigating. That should help cut the prison population at a stroke as people start using that defence in court, “It’s ok m’lud; I did commit the crime but it was in the past.”

And your starter for ten for any pedantic chronologists …

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Mark Pack

Al Yamamah: Conservatives silent, yet again

By Mark Pack | Wed 17th January 2007 - 1:27 pm

PMQs today – Ming Campbell questioned Blair about the blocking of prosecutions for corruption over the Al Yamamah arms deal with Saudi Arabia, and as for the Tories – silent yet again on the issue.

It’s clearly a very sore point for Blair (you can tell how rattled he is by how rude he is in response) yet once again the so-called “Official Opposition” have run a mile from the issue. Could it be because they have rather more connections with Saudi arms deals and money than they would rather we knew … ?

Note: the Liberal Democrats have a blog …

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Mark Pack

Al Yamamah: More Labour hypocrisy

By Mark Pack | Wed 20th December 2006 - 12:00 pm

A brief recap: after the then Conservative Government signed the Al Yamamah arms deal with Saudi Arabia, Labour politicians were very keen for there to be proper investigations into corruption allegations.

Another example found in the archives: in the early 1990s a National Audit Office investigation was given only a very narrow remit and then surpressed. The then response of Labour MP and defence spokesman Martin O’Neill? You guessed it – he promised that Labour would reopen the inquiry.

Again though, this enthusiasm seems to have waned rather…

(Hat tip: CAAT again).

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Mark Pack

Al Yamamah: Conservatives silent, again

By Mark Pack | Wed 20th December 2006 - 11:00 am

Another burst of stories in the media about the Al Yamamah Saudi Arabian arms deal and Labour’s axing of investigations into corruption (about which you can sign a petition here).

As a Lib Dem it’s gratifying to see the frequent coverage of the party’s views on the issue (yet again), but (yet again) there is nothing from Her Majesty’s Official Opposition (as in this BBC report). Silence from David Cameron and co seems to be the order of the day.

Is it too cynical to ask if all this could be because the arms …

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Mark Pack

Al Yamamah: Labour hypocrisy

By Mark Pack | Wed 20th December 2006 - 9:00 am

Back in the 1980s, Allan Roberts was MP for Bootle and a Labour defence spokesperson. When the Al Yamamah defence sales deal was arranged by the Conservative government with Saudi Arabia and there were allegations of corruption in the air, this was his – and his party’s view:

a. He was “quite confident” that commissions (ie bribes) had been paid, and
b. He demanded an official investigation.

(Hat tip: CAAT)

How times change … and I wonder if the fact that most electronic databases of news stories don’t stretch back to the mid-1980s has anything to do with the lack of stories in …

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Mark Pack

Lib Dems up the pressure on Saudi deal

By Mark Pack | Mon 18th December 2006 - 11:15 am

Liberal Democrat MPs are planning to up the pressure in Parliament over the Government’s controversial decision to drop corruption investigations around the Al Yamamah arms deal with Saudi Arabia.

(As an aside – perhaps action in Parliament will flush out rather more comment from the Conservatives on this issue, who overall have stayed very, very quiet…).

UPDATE: Simon Hughes has called for action following this case, whilst you can read the views of Norman Lamb (a long time campaigner on this case) here

UPDATE 2: The Liberal Democrat petition calling for an inquiry into the dropping of the Continue reading »

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