Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: Silvio Blairusconi

http://www.guardian.co.uk/armstrade/story/0,,1972749,00.html
'National interest' halts arms corruption inquiry
A major criminal investigation into alleged corruption by the arms
company BAE Systems and its executives was stopped in its tracks
yesterday when the prime minister claimed it would endanger Britain's
security if the inquiry was allowed to continue.
The remarkable intervention was announced by the attorney general, Lord
Goldsmith, who took the decision to end the Serious Fraud Office
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
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, the defence
secretary, foreign secretary, and the intelligence services, and they
decided that "the wider public interest" "outweighed the need to
maintain the rule of law". Mr 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 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 £6bn. 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 headed by Lord Bell 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, the Liberal Democrat chief of staff,
said the government had succumbed to Saudi pressure. "I think it's
because the inquiry has been making substantial progress that it's been
brought to an end," he said.
The SFO's director, Robert Wardle, issued a terse statement saying he
had dropped the Saudi end of the investigation "following
representations that have been made both to the attorney general and
the director of the SFO concerning the need to safeguard national and
international security".
Shares had begun to rise in BAE and major suppliers such as Rolls-Royce
in the last two days, as rumours reached the City that a deal had been
done to appease the Saudis. Lord Goldsmith's statement was unusual in
that it did not refer to the claimed threats to British jobs, but
instead concentrated on "national security".
The destruction of its inquiry will be a severe blow to the SFO which
has spent more than £2m on what was its most extensive current
investigation, and taken hundreds of pages of statements from
witnesses. One witness who gave evidence to the SFO, Peter Gardiner, a
director of a travel agent used to make alleged slush fund payments,
said last night: "It's an interesting signal that this gives to
industry and the world I am thinking of the hundreds of hours I have
wasted and all the personal problems this has caused me."
BAE, in a statement, said it welcomed the dropping of the inquiry. But
the company and its executives may not yet be out of the woods. The
attorney general has allowed investigations to continue into BAE
activities in Romania, Chile, the Czech Republic, South Africa and
Tanzania, which legal sources say are making strong progress.
The UK made overseas bribery illegal in 2002, under US pressure. Labour
ministers subsequently claimed they were determined to stamp out
corruption, but in practice no prosecutions have taken place under the
new law.
Clare Short, Mr Blair's former cabinet colleague, said: "This
government is even more soiled than we thought it was. It means that
BAE is above the law."
She added: "The message it sends to corrupt businessmen is carry on -
the government will support you."
Liberal Democrat Lord Goodhart said: "If, as appears to be the case,
this further investigation is being stopped because of potential damage
to security, intelligence and diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia,
doesn't that amount to blackmail by Saudi Arabia, to prevent this
matter going forward?"
Attorney general's statement
"It has been necessary to balance the need to maintain the rule of law
against the wider public interest. No weight has been given to
commercial interests or to the national economic interest.
The prime minister and the foreign and defence secretaries have
expressed the clear view that continuation of the investigation would
cause serious damage to UK/Saudi security, intelligence and diplomatic
cooperation, which is likely to have seriously negative consequences
for the UK public interest in terms of both national security and our
highest priority foreign policy objectives in the Middle East."

 was reportedly issued by the Saudis earlier this month.
Inutile scandalizzarsi davanti al rischio di perdere  una commessa di 
una diecina di *miliardi* di euro, di cui parecchi ricadranno 
sull'industria italiana. 
Del resto Fincantieri e le industrie della difesa di mezzo mondo hanno 
la tangente abituale, soprattutto in paesi dove i concorsi d'asta sono 
puramente pro forma.
Am.