The British government was also investigating the deal. That probe had gotten so far as to gain access to Swiss bank accounts. But then the investigation was shut down. According to British court documents, Saudi Arabia threatened to kill another fighter plane deal with BAE that was being negotiated at the time. The Saudis also threatened to end their close intelligence and diplomatic relationship with the British government.
The Saudi threat to call off intelligence cooperation was taken very seriously. As the former director of Britain’s Serious Fraud Office testified, the Saudi ambassador to the U.K. put it to him this way: “British lives on British streets were at risk.”
What a stunning juxtaposition: Hugely invested corruption by national governments and corporations vs. a small town seeking to be honorable in its investments! You couldn’t write a better story. It will be interesting to see how far this gets, considering the potential for dirty laundry spread widely.
There are limits to how far this will likely go unfortunately. And there are limits to how much money can be recovered from the Saudis Saudi Princes don’t bank in the United States. The $150M frozen in this country is loose change. They have tens if not hundreds of billions. Most of that is squirled away in numbered bank accounts in places Switzerland and Luxembourg where you need to prove the accounts exist and who they belong to before you can even think about trying to attach them or seize assets.
ICXC
John
Yikes… I butchered that last post. To read it correctly please insert a period after “Saudis” and before “Saudi” and insert “like” after “places” and before “Switzerland.”
Under the mercy,
John
Huge companies like Siemens are paying massive fines over the European habit of paying bribes for business. Illegal in the U.S. for many years before it became illegal in Europe, old habits die hard. I don’t think too many people realize that American law is a lot cleaner on this than other places.