Britain:British prime minister Tony Blair has defended a decision to halt a corruption inquiry into a multi-billion-pound defence deal with Saudi Arabia, but analysts have questioned his argument that vital national security interests are at stake.
The decision to scrap the two-year corruption inquiry followed reports that Saudi Arabia had warned Britain it might cancel an order for 72 Eurofighter Typhoon jets from BAE Systems over the inquiry into past dealings involving Saudi officials and people working on behalf of BAE.
"If we had allowed this to go forward, we would have done immense damage to the interests of this country," Mr Blair told reporters in Brussels yesterday, where he was attending the EU summit.
"Our relationship with Saudi Arabia is vitally important for our country in terms of counter-terrorism, in terms of the broader Middle East, in terms of helping in respect of Israel-Palestine and that strategic interest comes first."
The Serious Fraud Office said in a statement it had decided to drop the inquiry after receiving "representations" concerning the need to safeguard national and international security.
Mr Blair said those arguments were paramount, quite apart from the billions of pounds and thousands of highly skilled British jobs at stake in the deal.
The opposition Liberal Democrats accused the government of caving in to blackmail.
Some security analysts challenged the government's argument that British national security was at stake. "It's just nonsense . . . It's actually worse than nonsense, it's an extremely cynical use of security justifications for another purpose," said one consultant, who asked to remain anonymous because of the political and commercial sensitivity of the issue.
He said Saudi Arabia would have had no interest in withdrawing counter-terrorism co-operation from Britain. "They are very dependent on British intelligence in relation to Iran, which is clearly their major geo-strategic threat."
He added: "Traditionally, the Saudis have had one of the weaker intelligence set-ups in the region and have relied on the Americans and Brits to tell them what's going on."
Britain has provided counter-terrorism training and know-how to Saudi Arabia as the kingdom has struggled to root out al- Qaeda militants since the September 11th, 2001, attacks, in which 15 of the 19 suicide hijackers were Saudis.
British officials describe the relationship as a genuine partnership, and security analysts say the quid-pro-quo for British help is access to Saudi intelligence.
Arms sales to Saudi Arabia represent the biggest export deals in British history and analysts said the latest, worth an estimated £10 billion (€14.86 billion), had been at risk.
- (Reuters)