July 5, 2007 (LPAC)--The London Financial Times ' legal columnist Patti Waldmeir today attacks the U.S. Department of Justice decision to investigate the BAE-Saudi scandal, as "overreaching" American jurisdiction, but blames the failure to investigate squarely on Tony Blair and the British Serious Fraud Office.
The BAE issue is reduced to bribery by Waldmeir, and this is the basis for rejecting the idea that the United States has any jurisdiction in the case. She claims that "any U.S. investigation "will probably never be tested in court; BAE is very likely to settle the case before it ever gets to a judge. The costs, in public relations and other terms, are just too high."
However, the paper emphasizes, "the real blame surely lies in London: the decision by the UKs Serious Fraud Office, to call off its investigation after intervention by Tony Blair, left the Americans no choice but to step in. The international community was outraged by the UK's assertion that it could not investigate BAE because of national security concerns." Washington may be overreaching, but London is at fault. This could so easily have been avoided, if London unlike Washington, for once had the courage of its convictions and pursued allegations of bribery, beyond the bounds of politics."
