asked Her Majesty's Government:
Under what statutory or prerogative power the Attorney-General gave instructions to the Serious Fraud Office not to pursue its investigation of offences of corruption in relation to Saudi Arabian arms contracts; what limits there are, if any, on the exercise of this power to halt investigations; and into what classes of offence. [HL927]
No such instructions were given. The SFO itself decided to discontinue its investigation but not as a result of any instructions from me.
asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether the Attorney-General received representations from BAE Systems warning of the adverse impact on business from the loss of a Eurofighter Typhoon agreement unless the Serious Fraud Office investigation into alleged bribery of Saudi officials was halted. [HL986]
BAE Systems made such representations to me in November 2005, which I passed on to the Serious Fraud Office. However, in reaching the decision to discontinue the investigation, in accordance with Article 5 of the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions, the SFO took no account of such considerations.
asked Her Majesty's Government:
What were the respective roles and responsibilities of the Prime Minister and the Attorney-General in reaching the decision to halt the Serious Fraud Office investigation into alleged bribery by BAE Systems of Saudi officials. [HL987]
The decision to discontinue the investigation was made by the Serious Fraud Office, which exercises its functions under my statutory superintendence. As I explained in my Statement of 14 December 2006, I obtained views from the Prime Minister and the Foreign and Defence Secretaries as to the public interest considerations raised by the investigation. The nature of those views was set out in my Statement.
asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether the decision to abandon the Serious Fraud Office investigation into the Al Yamamah oil-for-arms contracts was influenced by pressure from Saudi Arabia in relation to the jet fighter contract with Saudi Arabia. [HL1050]
No. As I explained in my Statement of 14 December 2006, the public interest factors taken into account by the SFO related to national and international security, not commercial or economic considerations.