Sunday, May 18, 2008 - 13:00
AFP News Briefs ListBAE execs questioned by US investigators: report
Two senior executives at Britain's largest defence firm, BAE Systems, were questioned by US authorities probing corruption claims over a massive arms deal with Saudi Arabia, the Sunday Telegraph said.
The weekly said chief executive Mike Turner and an unnamed senior colleague were spoken to last week when they arrived at Houston airport in Texas on business and had personal electronic equipment examined.
It added that at about the same time, it understood that a number of US-based BAE executives had their homes raided. A Foreign Office official complained of "heavy-handed" treatment.
The US Department of Justice is currently probing allegations that illegal payments were made to Saudi officials to help BAE Systems secure a 43-billion-pound (54-billion-euro, 84-billion-dollar) arms deal in the 1980s.
The British government said in December 2006 that the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) was dropping its own probe into the claims, citing national security concerns and potential damage to relations with the oil-rich Gulf state.
London's High Court has since ruled that the SFO acted unlawfully in abandoning the case. The US authorities have pressed ahead with their inquiries.
A BAE Systems spokesman did not deny the report when contacted by AFP but said only: "BAE Systems notes press coverage concerning recent developments in connection with the DoJ investigation which commenced in June 2007.
"As the company has already announced, the investigation is ongoing and any request for information relating to it should be directed to the DoJ."
Images
A Eurofighter combat jet. Two senior executives at Britain's largest defence firm, BAE Systems, were questioned by US authorities probing corruption claims over a massive arms deal with Saudi Arabia, the Sunday Telegraph said.
© 2007 AFP Martin Hayhow
