Bribery team probing BAE case alleges UK dirty tricks
Sunday, 10 June 2007
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Staff at the world's anti-bribery watchdog claim they were targets of a British-led "dirty tricks" campaign after they began investigating the Government's decision to halt an official inquiry into secret commission payments to a Saudi prince.
Senior employees at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) allege they were smeared by Britain and put under pressure to drop their probe into allegations that BAE paid bribes to win Saudi arms deals.
One senior figure said it was "absolutely clear" that the OECD was being smeared. The smears are alleged to range from seeking to remove officials from their posts, undermining them with representatives of other countries and helping to circulate damaging information about staff linked to the inquiry.
Professor Mark Pieth, a Swiss legal expert closely involved in the OECD decision to investigate, is said to be among those being briefed against. Some suspect British diplomats were involved. "The dirty tricks boys were all at work," said a senior OECD figure who asked not to be named. "There was a lot of pressure on a lot of people. But what we have tried to do is maintain the independence institutionally. The institution won't give up."
The pressure began after the OECD began to look into sweeteners linked to the al-Yamamah arms deal, the biggest in British history. The deal, signed by Margaret Thatcher in 1985, was worth about £43bn in contracts lasting decades to supply the Saudis with more than 100 Tornado fighter jets and Hawk aircraft.
Details of £1bn in payments into accounts controlled by Prince Bandar, who helped to set up BAE Systems with the arms deal, were disclosed last week.
Britain is also poised to sign another deal with the Saudis, which is expected to be worth £10bn - and this controversy could hardly have come at a worse time.
Last year, Lord Goldsmith, the Attorney General, ordered the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) to drop an inquiry into the al-Yamamah contract and allegations of the payment of sweeteners by BAE Systems to the Saudis. Lord Goldsmith last week denied that he ordered details of the payments not to be disclosed to the OECD.
Sources at the OECD say they believe full details of the payments were withheld, and a campaign to undermine them and pressure them to drop their inquiry was set in train by Britain. One OECD employee, who declined to be named, found that details of his old CV, part of which contained exaggerations about his qualifications, were being aired in the media.
The OECD anti-bribery panel is expected to renew its inquiry into the decision of the Government to stop the Serious Fraud Office inquiry into allegations of bribes paid by BAE.
The Foreign Office last night denied that Britain was behind an orchestrated smear campaign and asked for documentary evidence. A spokesman said: "There is no pressure that I can see, of course not. I am not going to comment on these allegations."
The OECD is determined not to drop its probe. A number of its anti-bribery inspectors will travel to London shortly, where they are expected to ask to speak to ministers, including the Attorney General, about why the SFO probe was dropped.
Prince Bandar is reported to have personally lobbied Downing Street to get it to drop the SFO inquiry.
The Government will come under fresh pressure over the BAE bribery scandal this week as opposition MPs will ask the SFO to reopen the matter.
Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman, will also table House of Commons questions demanding to know if Gordon Brown knew about the government-authorised bribes.
It is believed the Treasury was aware of the payments, and that they may have been known about by ministers. But last night senior Treasury sources said that they thought that the news did not reach Gordon Brown.
Further viewing: Watch 'Panorama' on BBC1 Monday at 8.30pm
