A major British criminal investigation into alleged corruption by the arms company BAE Systems and its executives was stopped in its tracks on Thursday when British Prime Minister Tony Blair claimed it would endanger Britain's security if the inquiry were allowed to continue.
The remarkable intervention was announced by the attorney general for England and Wales, Lord Goldsmith, who took the decision to end the UK's Serious Fraud Office (SFO) inquiry into alleged bribes paid by the company to Saudi officials, after consulting Cabinet colleagues.
In recent weeks, BAE and the Saudi embassy had frantically lobbied the British government for the long-running investigation to be discontinued, with the company insisting it was poised to lose another lucrative Saudi contract if it was allowed to go on. This came at a time when the SFO appeared to have made a significant breakthrough, with investigators on the brink of accessing key Swiss bank accounts.
However, Lord Goldsmith consulted the prime minister, Defense Secretary Des Browne, Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett, and the intelligence services, and they decided that "the wider public interest" "outweighed the need to maintain the rule of law."
Blair said it would be bad for Britain's security if the SFO was allowed to go ahead, according to the statement made in the UK House of Lords by Lord Goldsmith. The statement did not elaborate on the nature of the threat.
BAE claimed that it was about to lose out on a third phase of the al-Yamamah deal, in which the Saudis would buy 72 Typhoon aircraft in a deal worth ?6 billion (US$11.8 billion). The Saudis had also hinted that they would do a deal with the French instead if the inquiry pushed ahead. A 10-day ultimatum was reportedly issued by the Saudis earlier this month.
A PR campaign saw MPs from all parties urging the dropping of the investigation, citing fears that jobs would be lost in their constituencies. But in its statements last night the government said commercial considerations had played no part in the decision.
The decision was condemned last night as naked political interference in a criminal case.
Norman Lamb, a senior figure in the UK Liberal Democrat party, said: "It is scandalous interference with a serious criminal investigation. If there is anything which would cause you to lose completely your trust in this government, this is it."
The SFO's director, Robert Wardle, issued a terse statement saying he had dropped the Saudi end of the investigation "following representations."
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary