BAE Scandal Has Caused Untold Damage to Britain’s International Standing

Commenting on today’s High Court ruling that the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) was wrong to drop its investigation into arms deals between BAE Systems and Saudi Arabia, Liberal Democrat Leader, Nick Clegg said:

 This ruling confirms what we have said all along. The Government was completely wrong to drop this inquiry into serious fraud allegations.

 This investigation was blocked supposedly to protect our security, but it looks increasingly like it was done to protect BAE sales by appeasing the Saudi Government.

 There is now a pressing need for a full inquiry into the SFO’s decision to end the investigation and what pressure was brought to bear by the Government over that judgment.

 The Government’s actions over this probe have done untold damage to Britain’s standing in the international community.

 To stop anything like this ever happening again in future, the Attorney General’s role must be fundamentally reformed. It is unsustainable for the Attorney General to preside over major prosecutions while simultaneously sitting in Cabinet as a Prime Ministerial appointee.