Sept. 17, 2007 (LPAC)--The Saudi and British defense ministries announced today that BAE Systems, the British arms cartel caught in the middle of the "Al Yamamah'' scandal, involving more than $100 billion in off-the-books covert funds for secret wars around the globe, has won an $8 billion contract to supply the Saudi military with 72 Eurofighter Typhoon jets. The jet deal is said to be part of a much larger package of military hardware, training, and infrastructure construction, that was negotiated by former British Prime Minister Tony Blair in his final days in office in June of this year. Last December, Blair ordered the shut down of a Serious Fraud Office probe into the "Al Yamamah'' oil-for-weapons barter deal on the grounds that any further investigation would "jeopardize British national security.''
Much to Blair's chagrin, the shutdown of the SFO probe triggered a backlash, leading the U.S. Department of Justice to open an investigation into Saudi Arabia's then-ambassador in Washington, Prince Bandar bin-Sultan. Prince Bandar received an estimated $2 billion for his role as broker of the "Al Yamamah'' deal, a potential violation of the strict U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Furthermore, sources close to the Justice Department have told Executive Intelligence Review investigators that the $2 billion in payoffs to Prince Bandar also involved money laundering--through the Bank of England to the Saudi accounts at the now defunct Riggs National Bank. A money laundering probe by the DOJ would open a pandora's box, because it would involve investigating what Prince Bandar did with the money. The 9/11 Commission found that at least $70,000 in Saudi embassy funds went to a Saudi man, Osama Basnan, who in turn provided material support to two of the Sept. 11, 2001 hijackers. Other recipients of Bandar cash during the period he was receiving regular wire-transfers via BAE and British Ministry of Defence accounts at the Bank of England included the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library.
While the Bandar role in the BAE affair has drawn much media attention, the most significant feature of the "Al Yamamah'' Anglo-Saudi scheme is that the British arms firm, along with other Anglo-Dutch "crown jewels'' like British Petroleum and Royal Dutch Shell, accumulated at least $100 billion in net gains from the barter scheme, between 1985-2007. These funds, according to a recent "authorized biography'' of Prince Bandar, bankrolled covert arms deals around the globe, and bypassed U.S. Congressional oversight over major Pentagon arms deals.
Other probes into BAE's questionable barter deals are underway in a dozen countries.
