EU:Prosecutors from four countries are to meet at The Hague next week to co-ordinate their corruption investigations into BAE. Their meeting will increase the pressure on the embattled arms company, which is already the subject of attention from the US department of justice and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's anti-bribery watchdog panel.
The UK's serious fraud office (SFO) will be joined at the meeting in the Netherlands by prosecutors from the Czech Republic, Sweden and Austria. Swedish investigations were launched in March after allegations that BAE offered massive secret commissions to promote the Czech sale of the Gripen fighter, manufactured in Sweden by Saab and marketed by BAE in a joint venture.
Christer van der Kwast, the Swedish chief prosecutor, confirmed the plans yesterday. He said: "We have established collaboration with our colleagues. My investigation is going very well." Austria is a new entrant into the worldwide corruption investigations into BAE, which also encompass Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Chile, Romania and Tanzania.
The Austrian inquiry is centred on recently published allegations that BAE secret commissions were promised to two agents there: Hans Malzacher, former head of the Steyr armoured car firm, and Alfons Mensdorff-Pouilly, an Austrian count. Both have declined to comment.
BAE was seeking to sell the Gripen fighter to Vienna, as well as to Prague. The Austrian sale went in the end to the rival Eurofighter, known as the Typhoon.
The meeting of prosecutors will take place under the aegis of an EU body called Eurojust, set up in 2003 to fight organised crime. Law enforcement sources said the prosecutors expected to share information and decide which countries were best placed to bring any charges.
Vince Cable, deputy leader of the UK Liberal Democrat party, this week renewed his attack on the UK government for blocking the SFO's Saudi investigation. In an adjournment debate in the UK parliament on Tuesday night, he accused BAE of passing secret funds through an undeclared British Virgin Islands company and asked: "Is that compatible with the Treasury's rules about money laundering?" - (Guardian service)