Why the hell did we keep on doing business with them?

[Grumpmeister]

Saw some of the coverage of this before I came into work this morning. The part that caught my attention most was that the Saudi's had threatened to restrict anti terror information that they were sending to the UK.

Now I'm sorry but when an entity we are trading with puts its own interests before the lives of the British public thats the time when we should be telling them to stick their trade where the sun doesnt shine. Or is this going to be where we find that the extensive bribes tave had been paid out (£1bn was the quoted total figure) worked their way high up into government circles? The fact that the SFO dropped this investigation in the first place does hint at that. 

The High Court has ruled that the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) acted unlawfully by dropping a corruption inquiry into a £43bn Saudi arms deal.

Defence firm BAE was accused of making illegal payments to Saudi officials to secure contracts, but the firm maintains that it acted lawfully.

The SFO said national security would have been undermined by the inquiry.

Two judges allowed the challenge made by Corner House and the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT).

'Failure of government'

In handing down the decision on Thursday, one of the judges, Lord Justice Moses, told the High Court that the director of the SFO had failed to assure them that everything had been done to meet the rule of law.

"No one, whether within this country or outside, is entitled to interfere with the course of our justice," he said.

"It is the failure of government and the defendant to bear that essential principle in mind that justifies the intervention of this court."

CAAT had argued that the SFO's decision to drop the probe was illegal under the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD's) Anti-Bribery Convention.

"We are delighted." said CAAT's Symon Hill after the decision.

"It has been clear from the start that the dropping of the investigation was about neither national security nor jobs. It was due to the influence of BAE and Saudi princes over the UK government."

Susan Hawley of the Corner House said: "This is a great day for British justice. The judges have stood up for the right of independent prosecutors not to be subjected to political pressure."

Following the judgement, BAE said: "The case was between two campaign groups and the director of the SFO. It concerned the legality of a decision made by the director of the SFO.

"BAE Systems played no part in that decision."

For its part, the Serious Fraud Office said it had no further comment, but was "carefully" considering the implications of the judgement.

'Damage'

In December 2006, the then Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, announced that the SFO was suspending its inquiry.

Lord Goldsmith said its continuation would have caused "serious damage" to UK-Saudi relations and, in turn, threatened national security.

Saudi Arabia is reported to have threatened to cancel a further deal with BAE to supply it with Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft and withdraw diplomatic co-operation unless the SFO investigation was stopped.

BAE argued it would "jeopardise" the multi-billion pound Typhoon deal and "seriously affect" relations with the Saudi kingdom.

The OECD said last month that it was launching its own investigation into the decision to drop the SFO inquiry.

The judges in London did not rule that the case would be reopened, but have said they would listen to further arguments.

[Barman]

That'll be oil then... 

[Snoopy]

It may not be oil but it has greased the wheels of business since time began and will continue so to do. Let's get realistic here and accept that it is not a perfect world.

[Barman]

It may not be oil but it has greased the wheels of business since time began and will continue so to do. Let's get realistic here and accept that it is not a perfect world.

‘Not a perfect world’ is somewhat of an understatement isn’t it Snoops? 

[Snoopy]

Very far removed from "perfect" but would "perfect" work?

[Barman]

Very far removed from "perfect" but would "perfect" work?

I wouldn’t aspire to ‘perfect’… but a bit further away from totally corrupt, sleaze ridden government would be nice…

It pisses me off that you and I know how much trouble we’d get into for a minor indiscretion like not paying council tax, etc. yet the troughers get away with murder in our names… 

[Snoopy]

Couldn't agree more but how do we fix it now?
Things have gone so far it needs a whole remake ...... but that won't happen.

It is a world wide problem .... a revolution in the UK would not change anything.

[Barman]

Couldn't agree more but how do we fix it now?
Things have gone so far it needs a whole remake ...... but that won't happen.

It is a world wide problem .... a revolution in the UK would not change anything.

It would be a start tho... 

Local council elections soon... as I said before, if NL are not kicked-out all over the country then you might as well just pack your bags... 

[Snoopy]

I've been doing my bit for the local elections. Writing stuff for candidates, filling out forms, submitting proposals for new candidates etc

[Uncle Mort]

A map of corruption levels in the world. The greener the better.



Hooray for Western Civilisation 

[Barman]

A map of corruption levels in the world. The greener the better.



Hooray for Western Civilisation 

Cyprus scores 4-4.9 

[Grumpmeister]

Local council elections soon... as I said before, if NL are not kicked-out all over the country then you might as well just pack your bags... 

Thanks for the invite BM, we'll be over directly.  

The problem is that Labour has created a core underclass who are guarranteed to vote for them each time as it keeps their benefit cheques rolling in. Now before anyone says anything I'm not on about everyone who claims but there is a significant portion of those claimants who have no intention of finding work as they can earn more by sitting on their arses doing nothing as long as this lot are in control.

For all they announce all these schemes to get people back into work its clear that they have no real intention of doing so.

[Snoopy]

A map of corruption levels in the world. The greener the better.



Hooray for Western Civilisation 

Tell me I'm thick but my reading of that suggests that New Zealand and Greenland, which we know to be sparsely populated countries, are the most corrupt whilst most African nations sit in the middle of the scale with the USA and GB rating higher up the corruption tree? Canada, generally accepted as more boring than even Belgium, is as corrupt as we are?
Tell me I am reading it wrongly please. Perhaps the lower the score the more corrupt the country

[Uncle Mort]

The original caption:

World map of the Corruption Perceptions Index by Transparency International, which measures "the degree to which corruption is perceived to exist among public officials and politicians". High numbers (green) indicate relatively less corruption, whereas lower numbers (red) indicate relatively more corruption.

[Snoopy]

The original caption:

World map of the Corruption Perceptions Index by Transparency International, which measures "the degree to which corruption is perceived to exist among public officials and politicians". High numbers (green) indicate relatively less corruption, whereas lower numbers (red) indicate relatively more corruption.

That is the politest way of telling me I'm thick I have ever encountered. 

Thanks for clearing that up Uncle.