November 9, 2007 (LPAC)--British campaigners have won permission to make a high court challenge against the decision by the British Serious Fraud Office (SFO) to end the corruption investigation of BAE Systems bribery payments to Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan for their huge arms deals with Saudi Arabia, the Guardian reports today. The campaigners, the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) and the Corner House, held that the SFO decision in December 2006 to end the investigation was unlawful under the OECD's anti-bribery convention. Britain signed the convention in 1997, the Guardian reports.

The paper quotes Lord Justice Moses saying that "matters of concern and public importance" had been raised and the challenge "cries out for a hearing." Bandar had reportedly received a billion pounds as part of the 20 billion pound al-Yamamah contract to sell BAE Tornado jets to Saudi Arabia in 1985. Former Prime Minister Tony Blair's government had claimed that the OECD convention was not breached, and the investigation had to be ended due to "national security" and counter-terrorism cooperation. The campaign groups made the case that the SFO's decision did not take account of the security implications of NOT carrying out the investigation. CAAT spokesman Symon Hill told Guardian Unlimited today's decision was brilliant "for everyone who cares about justice in Britain.... It's great news for everyone thinking that BAE and the government should not be above the law that the rest of us have to follow." In September, the British government was also accused of obstructing a U.S. investigation into the BAE bribery case.