July 2, 2007 (LPAC)--For the first time anywhere outside of LPAC and EIR, the London Financial Times , in an article by Stephen Fidler, has today revealed details of the off-the-books slush fund created by al-Yamamah proceeds to BAE from 1985 to date, estimated by LPAC to be as much as $160 billion. Until now, all coverage except ours, has focused only on the $2 billion paid to Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan under the deal. It has avoided any reference to the fact that Bandar's $2 billion was merely a commission on the central al-Yamamah deal, which was a barter arrangement to provide a tanker of oil per day to BAE-connected networks, in return for fighter-jets for the Saudis.

According to Monday's FT , the oil was extracted by both British Petroleum and Royal Dutch Shell, who each accordingly took a commission on the proceeds. Although the exact figures vary from what LPAC has reported, the FT clearly notes that "over nearly two decades, tens of billions of dollars" were generated in this manner, to be used for off-the-books operations. The funds, they say, and the wording here may be critical, "at least initially, involved a special account controlled by the Saudis, at the Bank of England." From there, "some or all" of the payments from this account were routed through the Defense Export Services Organization (DESO), which also took a commission.

While a portion of his coverage attempts to imply that the black funds were Saudi-controlled, rather than British-intelligence controlled, Fidler correctly says that there is ample reason to justify investigation by U.S. authorities. Now, with even the partial airing of this aspect in the British press, the pressure on Congress to deal with this monster is only increased.