[A-List] UK state: setting the Wolfowitz standard

["Michael Keaney" <michael011@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

UK tries to sabotage BAE bribes inquiry

Attempt to oust legal expert heading European corruption investigation

David Leigh and Rob Evans
Tuesday April 24, 2007
The Guardian

The UK is covertly trying to oust the head of the world's main
anti-bribery watchdog to prevent criticism of ministers and Britain's
biggest arms company, BAE, the Guardian has learned.

The effort to remove Mark Pieth comes as his organisation has stepped up
its investigation into the British government's decision to kill off a
major inquiry into allegations that BAE paid massive bribes to land
Saudi arms deals.

British diplomats are seeking to remove Professor Pieth, a Swiss legal
expert who chairs the anti-corruption watchdog of the Organisation for
Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), claiming he is too
outspoken.

At the OECD meeting in Paris last month, British officials tried to stop
Prof Pieth addressing a press conference at which he announced his
agency was to conduct a formal inquiry into the government's decision to
terminate the BAE investigation. They then privately briefed other
diplomats involved with the OECD, saying he should be removed.

When that failed, the campaign against him continued unabated with
further back-channel complaints.

But concern about the conduct of the British diplomats filtered back to
Prof Pieth, who confirmed yesterday that he was aware of the attempts to
remove him. "I am aware that the British ambassador was asking at the
time for action to be taken against me," he said.

Prof Pieth refused to elaborate, but he is understood to be privately
furious at the way he has been bad-mouthed.

A source at the OECD added: "The UK's representatives were sent to Paris
to emasculate the [watchdog] and ensure they did not say anything
publicly. They failed and were not pleased. They behaved in a manner
that would not have been out of place in a boxing ring."

In recent weeks the UK has demanded that OECD officials should be
prevented from making any future statements about the BAE case while the
inquiry is ongoing. But the request has hit a brick wall. An OECD source
said: "The British do not have support from anyone else on this."

The director general of the OECD, Angel Gurría, also believes the UK is
encouraging a smear campaign against him. Last Friday he was accused in
a British magazine of giving a job to his daughter, getting free
football tickets, and spending ?733,000 (£500,000) to refurbish his
Paris flat in what was described as "the poshest bit of the swanky 16th
arrondissement".

The article in the Economist quoted an unnamed north European ambassador
expressing fears that "the staid old body [OECD] ... may drift into
dangerous waters" under Mr Gurría, the former finance minister of
Mexico.

Following the allegations, Mr Gurría issued a combative statement,
saying that he was under UK media attack by "innuendo, gossip and
partial truths".

"It is no surprise that this attack occurs at this time," he added.

Britain's ambassador to the OECD, David Lyscom, admitted yesterday that
he had talked off the record to the Economist but added: "The UK had
absolutely nothing to do with planting the story."

The UK partly controls OECD purse-strings, and also has the power to
veto Prof Pieth's reappointment, due next January.

Sensitivity over the OECD inquiry has become more acute since its
36-strong panel announced last month detailed plans to mount a fresh
official inspection of Britain because of the manner in which the BAE
inquiry had been halted.

It also rebuked the UK for failing to keep its promises to modernise its
inadequate corruption laws, under which no one has yet been prosecuted.

The UK also faces a legal challenge in London. Two campaign groups, the
anti-corruption group The Cornerhouse and the Campaign Against the Arms
Trade, filed detailed pleadings last week alleging that Britain had
broken the treaty banning corrupt payments by companies to foreign
politicians and officials.


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