Thursday, April 10, 2008

U.K. ‘unlawfully’ scrapped BAE probe

Go to Financial Times original
The British government unlawfully bowed to foreign threats in scrapping a high-profile investigation into arms deals between BAE Systems and Saudi Arabia, the High Court has ruled, putting fresh pressure on ministers to reopen the probe.

Two senior judges on Thursday said that both the government and the director of the Serious Fraud Office ”failed to recognise the rule of law” in discontinuing the investigation after Saudi officials threatened to withdraw trade and security co-operation.

”No-one, whether within this country or outside, is entitled to interfere with the course of our justice,” Lord Justice Moses told the court. “We intervene in fulfilment of our responsibility to protect the independence of the director and of our criminal justice system from threat.“

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