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The current conflict in Gaza is resulting in grievous loss of civilian life. Three Israeli civilians have been killed and around 1,800 Palestinians. Atrocities have been committed against civilians, almost all by the Israeli Defence Forces (as follows from the above figures), including well-publicised ones condemned by the US Government and UN Secretary-General. Read on » I was pleased to give a talk at Transparency International this lunchtime. Below are some of the key points I made: Read on » As I have explained in previous posts on this blog (see here and here) there has been no effective Parliamentary scrutiny of the Ministry of Defence’s Government-to-Government arms deals with Saudi Arabia. These deals have now been the subject of two Serious Fraud Office investigations, one still on-going. Read on » Britain’s biggest arms company, BAE Systems, has enjoyed an uninterrupted and lucrative commercial relationship with Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Defence and Aviation for half a century. In the deal which started the relationship (agreed in 1965), BAE’s predecessor, the British Aircraft Corporation, was one of three British prime contractors, along with Associated Electrical Industries (AEI) and Airwork. Since 1973, BAE has been the sole prime contractor. Published on this website for the first time today are British Government documents, disclosed following my Information Tribunal victory[1], which describe how Prince Abdul Rahman sued AEI for his commission in the High Court. Here you can read the Prince’s version of events, as set out by his lawyers. Read on » A recent article in the Financial Times (republished by Gulf News here) states that the Serious Fraud Office has made arrests during its on-going investigation of the Airbus Group subsidiary GPT Special Project Management Limited. The company is the prime contractor on the Saudi Arabian National Guard Communications (SANGCOM) project, a Government-to-Government arms deal supervised by the British Ministry of Defence. One claim in the article that caught my eye was that two Ministry of Defence officials had been questioned by the Serious Fraud Office. Read on » New Internationalist magazine has published an interview with me by Andrew Smith of Campaign Against Arms Trade. In a recent article on the Exaro News website David Pallister and Frederika Whitehead write about the part of my book which describes the proposed arrangements for agency fees behind one of Britain’s arms deals with Saudi Arabia. This deal, known as the Saudi Arabian National Guard Communications project, or SANGCOM for short, has been in the news recently because it is the subject of an on-going investigation by Britain’s Serious Fraud Office, following allegations which have been reported by Private Eye, Exaro, and the Financial Times. Read on » The events of the “Arab Spring” have resulted in a great deal of scrutiny of the British Government’s export licensing procedures. Parliament’s Committees on Arms Export Controls have recommended in their most recent report that:
Read on » I am delighted to announce I will be speaking at the Edinburgh Book Fringe on Saturday 16 August 2014, courtesy of Word Power Books. For more details click here. A great deal of effort from Governments and Non-Governmental Organisations went into negotiating the Arms Trade Treaty, concluded in New York in 2013. I am sceptical whether the Treaty, if it comes into force (for this to happen 18 states still need to ratify it) will be effective. I very much hope my scepticism will be unfounded. Read on » |
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