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Brits and Saudis finally sign #4.43bn Eurofighter deal

Via NY Transfer News Collective  *  All the News that Doesn't Fit
 
sent by Tim Murphy (activ-l)


The Guardian - Sep 18, 2007
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/foreignaffairs/story/0,,2171356,00.html

Britain and the Saudis finally sign #4.43bn Eurofighter deal

By Richard Norton-Taylor

After years of delicate negotiations, nearly thwarted by bribery
allegations, Britain and Saudi Arabia announced yesterday they had
signed a deal for the sale of 72 Eurofighter Typhoon fighter aircraft
for #4.43bn.

The terms of the contract - called Salam, Arabic for peace - and the
total costs involved are confidential, the Ministry of Defence
insisted. However, officials made it clear the sum is likely to be much
higher than the #4.43bn published figure, which relates only to the
cost of the planes, not to upkeep, spares and training.

The MoD said the agreement, signed on September 11 but disclosed
yesterday, "follows plans outlined in December 2005 to establish a
greater partnership in modernising the Saudi Arabian armed forces". It
said Project Salam built on a "long and successful relationship between
the UK and Saudi Arabian governments and their armed forces". The two
governments, it said, "shared key objectives on national security and
actions to combat global terrorism". Saudi Arabia was an "important
strategic ally for the UK in the Middle East".

The deal follows the #21bn al-Yamamah contract negotiated by the
Thatcher government and involving the sale of BAE Systems Tornado jets
and medical equipment.

Opponents of both deals say they breach the government's arms export
guidelines, which say sales should not be approved for countries which
abuse human rights.

A bribery investigation by the Serious Fraud Office into earlier
dealings between Britain and Saudi Arabia was dropped last year after
Tony Blair and Lord Goldsmith, the then attorney general, said it would
harm the UK's national security interests. The SFO spent #2m and two
years amassing documents which showed BAE had transferred #1bn to
Washington accounts controlled by Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia, and
another #1bn to Swiss bank accounts linked to agents for Saudi royals.
The records include classified MoD files detailing government
involvement in the al-Yamamah arms deal payments.

The Saudis and BAE say the payments were above board. But Mr Blair said
the Saudis privately threatened to cut intelligence links unless the
investigations were halted. He said this might increase the risk of
British citizens being murdered in al-Qaida terrorist attacks.

The US justice department said this summer that it had opened an
investigation into allegations that BAE had funnelled money to Prince
Bandar bin Sultan, a former Saudi ambassador to the US.

Prince Bandar has denied he profited from the 1985 al-Yamamah deal and
BAE has denied allegations that it offered bribes in return for
contracts.

The SFO is examining BAE's weapons sales to other countries following
separate accusations that it paid kickbacks. BAE has appointed Lord
Woolf, former lord chief justice, to lead a committee to review its
policies and processes. The government has blocked attempts by MPs to
investigate the affair.
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