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Gus: so far in Aussielandia: the fairy tale endeth happily ever after...

AWB payola worth nearly 300 million bux of bribe (sorry: tax deductible kickbacks) has, so far, got a discreet sainthood from our former PM, John Howard ( the execs at AWB were "ASIO" mules and Johnnee believed in private enterprise and marketing), the inquiry was snookered and not a squeak from the present mob as if "it was all behind us now"...

The earf is still spinning on its axis...and we had our good sports...

But this pale into comparison with the largesses of the new Catholic Tony — the salesman extraordinary — see toon at top and story below it... Although his generosity did not involve Saddam-the-poor on this occasion, but Prince Bribriola of the kingdom of Saud...

Saudi bribery probe decision overturned

By John Aston and Cathy Gordon, PA
Thursday, 10 April 2008

Calls were made for a full public inquiry today after the High Court ruled the Government and Serious Fraud Office "unlawfully submitted" to threats that there could be "another 7/7" unless they dropped bribery investigations involving BAE Systems and Saudi Arabia.

In a passionate and powerful judgment, two senior judges condemned the Government's "abject surrender" to the "blatant threats" that Saudi co-operation in the fight against terror would end unless the probe into corruption was halted.

The judges said: "We fear for the reputation of the administration of justice if it can be perverted by a threat."

They warned that any similar unlawful threats to the rule of law in the future must be resisted by Government - or the courts would again intervene.

Lord Justice Moses and Mr Justice Sullivan, sitting in London, declared: "No one, whether within this country or outside, is entitled to interfere with the course of our justice.

"The rule of law is nothing if it fails to constrain overweening power."

Submission to a threat was only lawful "when it is demonstrated to a court that there was no alternative course open to the decision-maker".

The ruling was an extraordinary victory for anti-bribery campaigners Corner House and the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT), who had argued that the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) decision to stop the investigation was tainted by Government concerns about trade with Saudi Arabia and diplomatic considerations.

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Gus: see toon on top 

UK under fire over bribery laws
Eurofighter Typhoon jets
The OECD was unhappy about the UK's handling of the BAE Systems probe

The UK has been criticised for lacking the "political will" to investigate companies accused of foreign bribery.

Weaknesses in UK bribery laws meant it was "difficult" to bring cases, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said.

The UK was strongly criticised in 2006 for dropping a probe into bribery allegations involving defence firm BAE Systems over a £43bn Saudi arms deal.

Ministers said a "comprehensive" plan to tackle bribery was being developed.

see toon at top

BAE accused of £100m secret payments to seal South Africa arms deal

    * David Leigh and Rob Evans
    * The Guardian, Saturday December 6 2008
    * Article history

More than £100m was secretly paid by the arms company BAE to sell warplanes to South Africa, according to allegations in a detailed police dossier seen by the Guardian yesterday.

The leaked evidence from South African police and the British Serious Fraud Office quotes a BAE agent recommending "financially incentivising" politicians.

In the arms deal, the new ANC government in South Africa agreed to spend a controversial £1.6bn buying fleets of Hawk and Gripen warplanes.

Critics said the country, beset by unemployment and HIV/Aids, could not afford it. The Hawks, rejected by the military, cost twice as much as Italian equivalents.

But the then South African defence minister Joe Modise and a key official, Chippy Shaik, insisted on the purchase.

BAE is accused in the reports of corrupt relationships with an arms tycoon, John Bredenkamp, recently blacklisted in the US for his links with Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe. Bredenkamp's blacklisting freezes his assets in the US.

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although Aussie Tony has left the UK government, see toon at top...

Tony Blair added to international pressure on Israel likely to be exerted at today's Egypt-hosted post-war reconstruction summit by calling for Gaza's crossings to be opened for basic building and other commercial goods.

On his first and long awaited visit to the Palestinian territory as Middle East envoy, Tony Blair yesterday asserted that the 20-month blockade inflicted on the territory's 1.5 million inhabitants "does not work".

He made the comments while also calling for an end to violence, including rockets fired by Gaza militants into Israel.

from The Independent

The Prime Minister and the Attorney General are expected to clear the way for a full scale criminal prosecution against BAE Systems in one of the biggest corruption cases to ever reach the British courts.

Negotiations between the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and the UK-based defence company over the settlement of an alleged bribes scandal broke down this week.

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And there I was, dreaming all frauds were serious, when came towards me a funny-fraud officer dressed as a circus clown, with his pants on fire. Could have been "Aussie Tony", who knows, as I woke up this instant... see toon at top.

Defence giant BAE Systems said today it had agreed to pay fines totalling £286 million to settle corruption charges with the Serious Fraud Office and US Department of Justice.

The move, which will see the firm plead guilty to two charges, follows an investigation into deals that BAE won from countries including Tanzania, the Czech Republic, Romania and South Africa.

BAE will pay 400 million US dollars (£255.7 million) to the Department of Justice and £30 million to the SFO, the firm said.

The company will plead guilty in court to an offence of failing to keep "reasonably accurate accounting records" in its activities in Tanzania, the SFO said.

The payout to the SFO will be made as an "ex gratia payment" for the benefit of the people of Tanzania.

Richard Alderman, director of the SFO, said: "I am very pleased with the global outcome achieved collaboratively with the DoJ.

"This is a first and it brings a pragmatic end to a long-running and wide-ranging investigation."

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See toon at top...

from the Guardian...

The Saudi contract called al-Yamamah – which means "the dove" – was Britain's largest-ever arms agreement, and the source of intense scrutiny and controversy ever since it was signed in the mid-1980s.

Today – after years of denying claims of corruption and bribes – the company finally admitted that the deal was mired in wrongdoing.

The US department of justice today filed a telling indictment to which BAE has agreed to plead guilty.

It says, among other accusations, that BAE "used intermediaries and shell entities to conceal payments to certain advisers who were assisting in the … [Saudi] fighter deals".

The statement goes on to give examples: "BAE agreed to transfer sums totalling more than £10m and more than $9m to a bank account in Switzerland controlled by an intermediary. BAE was aware that there was a high probability that the intermediary would transfer part of these payments to the [Saudi] official."

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as I ws saying at the top of this line of comments:

"To some extent, I feel for our "Aussie Tony"...  

In a world where bribes are fully tax deductible in Australia — see the AWB case, Saddam & our Johnnee who had no idea, plus a ruling by Pete that it was not a bribe but a kickback —  one can only expect some mayola on the side when one sits at the lettuce negotiation table — especially when your buyer wears the tablecloth on his head.

BAE had to pay the bribes of more than a billion dollars when a Saudi Prince — who was buying about 20 billion dollars of armament from Aussie Tony's Dill & Gherkin factories, for the Prince's uncle — tells him he will unleash the dogs unless he pay up.  Thus our Tony shadda been grateful the tablecloth Prince is not more greedy.

In such a process, one should keep the Swiss bank account secret & maintain one's bent dignity with denials — unlike a US president who goes direct to the Saudi Prince's uncle & gives him the cash in hand in advance to buy from US stockpile of weapons, which the president gives away anyway. That's a bit too obvious...  

Our Tony had to fix the deal with a few strings & duct tape"

see toon at top...

Campaigners have attacked a deal struck by UK defence contractor BAE Systems to end inquiries into its affairs.

The firm is to admit two criminal charges and pay fines of £286m ($447m) to settle US and UK investigations.

The Campaign Against the Arms Trade said it was "outraged and angry" that claims of corruption, which BAE has not admitted, would not be aired in court.

Liberal Democrat MP Norman Lamb said more should have been done to probe the "very serious" allegations.

'Wilfully misleading'

The move follows corruption investigations into deals that BAE Systems secured from Saudi Arabia, Tanzania, the Czech Republic, South Africa and Hungary.

Under the agreement, announced on Friday, BAE will hand over more than £250m to the US, which had accused it of "wilfully misleading" US investigators over payments made as the firm tried to win contracts.

The claims about the Saudi royal family's extensive US property holdings have come to light in a case in New York Supreme Court involving Mr Hill and a business partner, Howard Hallengren. The two men and the firms they worked for mismanaged the portfolio and took unapproved fees, it is claimed. The pair say the claims are untrue and are petitioning the court to prevent themselves being dragged into arbitration.

One of the claims is that their firm took illegal payments running into hundreds of thousands of dollars when BP negotiated with them to extend its lease in Texas in a new five-year deal worth $49m.

Lawyers for the portfolio companies, meanwhile, are fighting to keep the prince's identity secret. Naming the "ultimate and beneficial owners" is irrelevant because the case involves only US-incorporated entities, attorney Justin Garbaccio wrote to the judge, and Mr Hill and Mr Hallengren have named them "solely to harass and/or embarrass those parties... When faced with the instant application to seal [the names], petitioners took the opportunity in their response to repeatedly and gratuitously name said 'owners' as often as possible."

Lawyers for the two sides in the court case did not return phone calls requesting comment.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/revealed-saudi-royals-secret-1bn-us-empire-7817936.html

Cameron will embark on a low-key arms trip to the Gulf on Monday in an attempt to persuade regional powers upset by Britain's response to the Arab spring to buy more than 100 Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jets. The deals could be worth more than £6bn to Britain.

The prime minister will fly to a major UAE military airbase on a mission to patch up relations with leaders in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, where major British businesses such as BP and BAE have important interests.

Cameron will join forces with senior political and military figures from the UAE to inspect Typhoons at Al Minhad airbase, which is used as an air bridge for British forces flying between the UK and Afghanistan. Britain hopes to persuade Gulf leaders to buy 100 Typhoons on top of the 72 bought by Saudi Arabia.

The looming confrontation between Iran and its regional adversaries will also feature heavily in Cameron's talks with leaders in the Sunni-dominated Gulf countries. Britain could base Typhoons, built by a European consortium that includes BAE Systems, in the UAE if relations with Tehran deteriorate.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/nov/05/david-cameron-gulf-typhoon-fighter-jets

See story and toon at top... "Plus ça change, plus c'est la meme shit..."

The family of a 74-year-old British man sentenced to 350 lashes in Saudi Arabia after being caught with home-made wine has pleaded for clemency and intervention.

Karl Andree has served a year in jail but has been told he could face a public flogging.

His family say they fear the punishment could kill him and have urged the British government to intervene.

"He's done his time now; he should be released. This lashing sentence — we fear, because of his age, he won't survive it," his son, Simon, told BBC radio.

"He's a frail old man... enough is enough."

Mr Andree's son implored British prime minister David Cameron to intervene personally, but feared that his father was "at the bottom of the list".

"I feel that all the business dealings with Saudi Arabia and the UK are probably taking priority," he said.

Britain's foreign office said it was actively seeking his release.

"This is an extremely concerning case," Mr Cameron's spokeswoman told reporters on Tuesday.

"Given the ongoing concerns and the fact we would like to see more progress, the PM is writing today to the Saudis to further raise the case."

The move underlines diplomatic tensions over human rights in Saudi Arabia, which is considered one of Britain's closest military allies in the Middle East.

The Sun newspaper said that despite having served his sentence, Mr Andree was still in jail as Saudi officials wait to carry out the flogging.

The cancer-surviving grandfather of seven has lived in Saudi Arabia for 25 years, working in the oil industry...

read more: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-14/clemency-plea-for-briton-facing-saudi-flogging/6852162

Karl should have retired long ago... and come to live in the UK with his family... But the reality is that some corrupt practices seem to be okay while a small tipple is not... Hey, the bloke is not a Muslim, for Oil-sake's... But then the threats of vengeance (read "justice-crap" according to antiquated decrees, in the case of the "poor" old UK fellow) are different...

See toon at top...