Post by northwestman on Mar 6, 2024 17:21:38 GMT 1
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/mar/06/two-men-acquitted-of-bribing-saudis-in-huge-british-defence-deal
Two men acquitted of bribing Saudis in huge British defence deal.
Jury acquits Jeffrey Cook and John Mason after lawyers argue payments were authorised by UK and Saudi governments.
Tom Allen, the KC representing Cook, had told jurors that a wide array of British politicians, officials and military figures had long known about, and approved, the payments to the Saudis.
In their successful defence, Cook and Mason had accepted that they were involved in making the payments between 2007 and 2010. However, they argued that they should be acquitted on the grounds that for years the British government had approved and facilitated the payments to members of the Saudi royal family and other senior Saudis in military contracts.
This was done, they said, to ensure that British firms won the contracts from the Saudis instead of companies from rival countries such as France and the US.
Allen, the KC representing Cook, said the payments were “known and authorised” by the highest levels of the British and Saudi governments, “and by that I mean senior civil servants in the MoD and Whitehall, diplomatic figures, political figures, ministers, and secretaries of state”.
No surprise at all here then! And nothing new either. BAE did much the same thing.
www.theguardian.com/world/2010/feb/05/bae-systems-arms-deal-corruption
Two men acquitted of bribing Saudis in huge British defence deal.
Jury acquits Jeffrey Cook and John Mason after lawyers argue payments were authorised by UK and Saudi governments.
Tom Allen, the KC representing Cook, had told jurors that a wide array of British politicians, officials and military figures had long known about, and approved, the payments to the Saudis.
In their successful defence, Cook and Mason had accepted that they were involved in making the payments between 2007 and 2010. However, they argued that they should be acquitted on the grounds that for years the British government had approved and facilitated the payments to members of the Saudi royal family and other senior Saudis in military contracts.
This was done, they said, to ensure that British firms won the contracts from the Saudis instead of companies from rival countries such as France and the US.
Allen, the KC representing Cook, said the payments were “known and authorised” by the highest levels of the British and Saudi governments, “and by that I mean senior civil servants in the MoD and Whitehall, diplomatic figures, political figures, ministers, and secretaries of state”.
No surprise at all here then! And nothing new either. BAE did much the same thing.
www.theguardian.com/world/2010/feb/05/bae-systems-arms-deal-corruption