uk lords shut down bribery probe

Former UK SFO director Richard Wardle acted "courageously" in closing down a us$4 billion bribery case in a state-backed arms deal between the United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia.

NEWS Serious fraud officials in the United Kingdom have won an appeal - against one of their own cases, the country's biggest. The Serious Fraud Office earlier this year decided against proceeding with the country's biggest corruption scandal, involving allegations of bribery in a US$86 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia. A high court ruling against that decision was challenged by the SFO, claiming that "national security" was at stake. Former SFO director Richard Wardle appealed to the House of Lords, the supreme court in the United Kingdom. In what the Times Online reports as a "resounding victory" five law lords ruled that Wardle acted lawfully and “courageously” concluding he had no option but to halt the inquiry in the interests of national security. Some US$4 billion in bribes have been widely reported as being paid by the state-linked British armaments manufacturer, BAE Systems. SFO's decision to drop the bribery inquiry was challenged by campaign groups, The CornerHouse, and CAAT, the Campaign Against Arms Trade. "The judgment means that those with powerful friends prepared to make threats can effectively evade justice, particularly if the threats are couched in terms of national security," reads a statement on the CAAT site posted in response to yesterday's House of Lords ruling.

"The ruling also confirms that the UK government has driven a coach and horses through a key international anti-bribery convention to protect its friends in BAE."

In seeking a declaratory judgement from the High Court, the groups claimed the case was dropped because of pressure from Saudi Arabia to stop the bribery inquiry. Both groups put positive spin on the setback, but the ruling sets a precedent globally that other first world governments could use to stamp out similar anti-corruption probes. This includes New Zealand, where the SFO was recently disbanded in favour of a Police unit, and Australia, where an inquiry into a $300 million bribery case has been criticised as a white-wash. LINKS Cornerhouse CAAT news release HEADLINES

Telegraph.co.uk House of Lords clears SFO of 'unlawful' conduct in Saudi arms case ... Forbes, NY - 30 Jul 2008 But he added: What determined the decision was the Director's judgment that the public interest in saving British lives outweighed the public interest in ... UK Law Lords uphold decision to halt BAE inquiry The Associated Press Halting of Al Yamamah investigation was not unlawful, rules House ... Jane's SFO 'courageous' in dropping BAE probe, law lords rule Times Online guardian.co.uk - Aljazeera.net all 477 news articles »

uk billion dollar bribe inquiry shut down - again

NEWS RELEASE

Serious Fraud Office win appeal in BAE-Saudi case as public outrage continues

The House of Lords, the UK's highest court, has this morning overturned the High Court's ruling of April 2008 that the Director of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) acted unlawfully when, acting on government advice, he terminated in December 2006 a corruption investigation into BAE Systems' arms deals with Saudi Arabia after lobbying by BAE and a threat from Saudi Arabia to withdraw diplomatic and intelligence co-operation.

The High Court ruling was in response to a judicial review brought by the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) and The Corner House.

Today, the law lords described the threat made by Saudi Arabia as 'ugly and obviously unwelcome'.

Baroness Hale said that she would have liked to have been able to say that it was wrong to stop the investigation as it was 'extremely distasteful that an independent public official should feel himself obliged to give way to threats of any sort.'

But she felt she had to agree that the SFO Director's decision was lawful because of the breadth of the Director's discretion.

In response to the Lords' judgments, Nicholas Hildyard of The Corner House said:

''Now we know where we are. Under UK law, a supposedly independent prosecutor can do nothing to resist a threat made by someone abroad if the UK government claims that the threat endangers national security.

''The unscrupulous who have friends in high places overseas willing to make such threats now have a 'Get Out of Jail Free' card -- and there is nothing the public can do to hold the government to account if it abuses its national security powers. Parliament needs urgently to plug this gaping hole in the law and in the constitutional checks and balances dealing with national security.

''With the law as it is, a government can simply invoke 'national security' to drive a coach and horses through international anti-bribery legislation, as the UK government has done, to stop corruption investigations.''

Symon Hill of CAAT said:

''BAE and the government will be quickly disappointed if they think that this ruling will bring an end to public criticism. Throughout this case we have been overwhelmed with support from people in all walks of life.

''There has been a sharp rise in opposition to BAE's influence in the corridors of power. Fewer people are now taken in by exaggerated claims about British jobs dependent on Saudi arms deals. The government has been judged in the court of public opinion. The public know that Britain will be a better place when BAE is no longer calling the shots.''

The law lords judgment confirms that the UK is in flagrant breach of its duty to implement and give force to the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention.

In practice, the UK Government now has a green light to use an undefined and broad concept of 'national security' to cover themselves when taking potentially unlawful decisions.

The SFO, BAE and the Government might think that, with today's judgments from the law lords, it's now all over. Far from it! The real challenges have only just begun.

Both CAAT and The Corner House are calling on all those who are alarmed at the gaping holes in the law revealed by the House of Lords' judgments today to join us in:

• Pressing for changes to the law to ensure that our prosecutors can remain independent and are empowered to resist threats from abroad.
• Ensuring that national security advice can be scrutinised by the courts and by parliament so that the Government cannot arbitrarily invoke national security - without effective checks and balances - to trump the rule of law.
• Opposing the clauses in the draft Constitutional Renewal Bill that would prevent a judicial review like ours from ever being taken in the future and that would give the Government 'carte blanche' to invoke national
• security to stop a fraud investigation or criminal prosecution without effective checks and balances.
• Insisting that the Government fulfil its international obligations to cooperate with requests for assistance from the US and Swiss authorities in their investigations into BAE's dealings with Saudi Arabia.
• Pressing the OECD to clarify the circumstances under which national security concerns can legitimately be invoked to exempt signatories from fulfilling their obligations under the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention.
• Pressing the Serious Fraud Office to re-open its investigation into BAE's dealings with Saudi Arabia given that circumstances have changed since the investigation was dropped in December 2006. Much of the information that Saudi Arabia was apparently concerned to keep out of the public domain is now public knowledge.
• Exposing the preferential access of arms companies, such as BAE, to the Government, and campaigning to end public subsidies to the arms industry.

CAAT and The Corner House are obviously disappointed -- but we're not despondent!

The judicial review process has increased public awareness of corruption, arms trade, national security and the rule of law; it has now clarified the law; and key documents have been released into the public domain that would not otherwise have seen the light of day.

CornerHouse/CAAT statement in response to House of Lords judgments:
http://www.thecornerhouse.org.uk/item.shtml?x=562186

Opinions of the Lords of Appeal:
http://www.controlbae.org/jr/Lords_judgment.pdf

The Corner House
http://www.thecornerhouse.org.uk

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100 months to save the planet

...


NEWS


According to the Green New Deal Group, humanity only has 100 months to prevent dangerous global warming, reports the BBC.


"Politicians' faith in markets' ability to manage themselves now looks childishly naive," says Andrew Simms, policy director of the New Economics Foundation, nef, acronymed in lower case.


"Many countries, not just the UK, are going to need to learn the art of rapid transition."


The Green New Deal refers to rapid change in the aftermath of the Great Depression that started after the Wall Street Crash of 1929, and, in a massive retooling for World War II by allies like the UK and US.


100 months to save planet

Climate crisis: the new green deal
nef



read more | digg story

...

messenger shooting messenger dept.

Deep in the downunder, Garth George, a columnist for the main daily paper in New Zealand, chastises colleagues for exposing a girl-bashing sports presenter.In his column for the Auckland-based New Zealand Herald, fondly nicknamed among media circles as "the Granny", the first-name surnamed George decries "media hysteria."

read more | digg story

welcome to the frozen Economy

Headlines from the frontline of global economic collapase - America is waking up scared, as reported by Business Week: One man told another: "When I was a kid, you woke up, went into the bathroom, and broke up the ice in the toilet. Now my kids will have to do the same. America is moving backward."

read more | digg story

news tracking - predicting riots, war

...

> volunteer health workers like this AIDS campaigner in Tahiti can now access an online site, healthmap, that sifts through thousands of news reports a day to predict outbreaks of disease and violence. MEDIA BEHIND THE SCENES Whether news of current events is good or bad, there is always a lot of it, reports Wired magazine. Worldwide, an estimated 18,000 Web sites publish breaking stories in at least 40 languages. That universe of information contains early warnings about everything from natural disasters to political unrest — if you can read the data, suggests the magazine. PACIFIC In the Pacific media, most sites still lack RSS and other simple syndication links. However, this agency is setting up working models that publishers can copy, focusing on options in Google's custom search engine, building a database of 40+ island-only news organisations to start with. Others will be added as suggested. BACKGROUND This agency has proposed a similar approach to officials across the region, referring to this information approach as "headline hunting." Journalists, researchers, and officials can build their own maps - even short term memory ones - scanning headlines for issues of the day and, eventually, helping discern longer term patterns. With an all-Google platform, the agency uses news.google.co.nz to find stories as they emerge on the global scene via email alert. A custom search engines pick up on sector themes - health, education - from publishers that do not have full or even part feeds from their sites. LINKS Tracking the News: A Smarter Way to Predict Riots and Wars Researchers Track Disease With Google News, Google.org MoneyHealthMap DO MORE read more digg story

jpk affair - 30 year overview

UPDATE He was a little French boy who arrived on the far frontiers of the French military industral complex, in French Polynesia circa 1965, as a five year old. Jean-Pascal Couraud was the son of teachers, among tens of thousands brought in to supply support services for the nuclear testing programme. Along with their children. He went missing more than 10 years ago, with Avaiki Nius Agency continuing to build a range of resources around allegations of corruption that reach to the very top of the French state - it's presidency. LINK jpk update: jpk affair - 30 year overview

where have all the -media- leaders gone

... This month's Islands Business questions today's leadership - including inside the media. MEDIA The region's solitary news magazine Islands Business International has called on colleagues to put aside "petty foibles" to "fight the malaise" of threats against the media from "errant regimes."

"This is the time for the region’s media to rise as one and provide both the moral support and the technical and legal wherewithal to shake errant regimes out of their power drunk stupor."

The "We Say" editorial was a step up from an earlier Whispers piece that reported on controversy inside PINA including membership boycotts - the first - and only - such report anywhere across the region. LINKS Islands Business - We Say: MEDIA FREEDOM THREATENED Islands Business - Whispers: MEDIA WATCH

billion dollar bribery shares up

NEWS Global corruption watchdogs are keeping a close eye on hearings at the UK House of Lords where the Serious Fraud Office is arguing against a High Court decision to reopen a multibillion bribery case. In the meantime, financial press followed the money.

"Meanwhile, shares in BAE Systems added 5-1/4 pence to 431-3/4, as investors focus on Britain's upper House of Parliament Monday when the government challenges a court's verdict that ministers were wrong to drop a probe into bribery allegations surrounding the UK defence group's arms deals with Saudi Arabia.

Forbes reports House of Lords is scheduled to hear a government appeal against a High Court ruling "that the Serious Fraud Office acted unlawfully in ditching its investigation into the 43-billion-pound Al-Yamamah arms deal in 1985." LINKS Forbes story on rising death shares Exposed: the arms lobbyist in Parliament Google news stories on House of Lord hearings avaiki pick : Mixed Messages on Fighting Foreign Bribery, Says TI Report avaiki link : rich states ‘failure’ on corruption

BBC News

UK Lords consider BAE-Saudi arms deal probe Forbes, NY - 2 hours ago ... Saudi Arabia and BAE Systems PLC reached Britain's highest court Monday, as the House of Lords began considering whether the decision was lawful. ... SFO dropped BAE inquiry over 'national security' concerns, law ... Times Online all 14 news articles »

...

rich states ‘failure’ on corruption

NEWS Birthplace of parliamentary democracy, the United Kingdom, has been singled out by anti-corruption group Transparency International for failing to charge one, single business with bribery.

"Japan and Canada have both brought only one minor prosecution each for bribery under an OECD convention while the UK has not prosecuted anyone, according to the report. That compares with 103 cases, some of which have resulted in 'severe penalties', brought by the US."

Criticised here for failing to answer questions over its country reports, Transparency International is slowly dialing up criticism on first world corruption, this time just before the influential G8 summit of the top eight economies, in Toyako, Japan. This year's transparency theme is corruption in global water management, building on the 2007 theme of climate change. LINKS G8 under fire for ‘failure’ to tackle bribery TI Global Corruption Report 2008: Corruption in the water sector Digg this story avaiki nius agency stories on transparency international ...

where media fear to tread II

why is this little item in IBI's Whispers column such a hot, hot potato?

... MEDIA Six years after the Secretariat for the Pacific Community took a chance on a more vigorous pursuit of media freedoms, the region has its first successful regional email list. In six short months, Pacific Islands Journalists Online has raised regional industry debate from zero to hero. A forum where media news is sure of strong analysis, criticism and bags of teasing. AS NOTED Lots of good stuff, then, as noted in the first half of this post. But incredibly, even in this private, off-the-record, no-names quoted environment, there has been a somewhat stunning silence in reaction to the first - and only - public mention of continuing controversy inside PINA. The Pacific Islands News Association is the region's only industry group for media. But PINA continues to suffer criticism from members annoyed at a lack of due process. Three decades of it, truth be told. NOT ONE WORD Among PIJO members, debate about PINA has raged via email for months now. There have been hissy fits galore, threats, members huffily hitting unsubscribe links, personal attacks, some of them probably defamatory, more teasing, jokes, and shared sighs about street food around our island region. But, so far, not one word about a small item printed in last month's Whispers, a socio-politico gossip column from Islands Business International magazine. And, so far, IBI can also stand proud as the only media organisation to mention the PINA controversy. Here's the item, word-for-word, from the May edition of Islands Business. Yes, May ... WHISPERS ON PINA "Media watch: Because, readers, we believe in putting the same spotlight on the media as we do on everyone else, we report the following without comment. "There’s an almighty uproar going on over the leadership of the regional Pacific Islands News Association (PINA). Three executive board members elected in Honiara last year have changed their roles. Two plan to stand in this year’s Vanuatu’s elections. Prominent PINA members say those involved should follow the constitution and resign. But board members and the Suva-based PINA Secretariat resisted. They said this doesn’t have to happen. "One leading daily newspaper has already quit PINA membership in protest over the constitution not being followed. Another has said it won’t pay its membership until the board members are replaced and the constitution followed.” THREE THINGS There are three interesting things about this post. First off is the open declaration that IBI carries the PINA gossip item "without comment." In, yes, a gossip column. Rarely regarded as a source of high editorial virtue, gossip columns are a place for otherwise staid publications to be a wee bit daring, to hint perhaps at what everyone else in the regional room is not -ahem- talking about. Just a bit, mind. Secondly, that it was carried in Whispers at all. Media business is frontline sovereign survival stuff and yet the media itself treats industry controversy as a bit of a giggle - not so bad if you're selling plastic flowers from China. But if you're in an industry that the Pacific Islands Forum refers to as "vital" for informing citizens about future challenges, then perhaps industry coyness about looking in the mirror is getting a little dated. Thirdly, where are the journalists? Has this item been raised in one newsroom across our region? Or, even, publishers and editors sharing a few laughs over beers? So far, no public evidence of either. Instead an awful, deathly silence, on matters of dramatic urgency for an industry bearing witness to every societal challenge since the printing press was invented 600 years ago. WAKE UP A month ago, this independent agency advised colleagues in Fiji to grow up. Similar to the IBI whisper, there was a deathly silence. In hindsight, gentler words could have been more effective. Having elevated media commentary to cheeky new levels, however, this agency will instead attempt to add further insult to injury. Time to wake up. Not just in Fiji, but across the region. Political leaders are way ahead of journalists, engaging Australia and New Zealand in public debate over our future status as environmental refugees, flooded out by freemarket fundamentalism. WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE ? Journalists need to reclaim respect for the profession by building immediate firewalls between themselves and administrative sides of the media industry. And, do so publicly, via open, public web 2 forums like PIJO. Journalists need to stop apologising privately for what they proclaim publicly - real-world, real-time transparency and accountability. Journalists need to wake up to opportunities of advocacy for the world's only industry that - today - they treat with kid gloves - their own. Newsroom whispers are no longer enough. Media can no longer indulge ravages of capitalism by subduing intellectual capital in a manner akin to communism. BLIND SPOT A leading UK aid agency recently posed the question: should media independence be a precondition for aid? Most journalists and media management across Pacific Islands are not aware such debate even exists. Another question might be - how to avoid such an extraordinary notion becoming just another conduit for private sector subsidies? In setting firewalls, journalists seeking a reputation for independence are rightfully distant towards administrative sides of the media story. But that editorial and ethical reserve has turned into a massive blind spot. ENDS

where media fear to tread

a screen grab from the top-secret forum for journalists from across the pacific. nah, not really.

MEDIA ANALYSIS

Growth, depth and vigour have been hallmarks of one of the region's newest email lists, Pacific Islands Journalists Online.

Set up by former Pacific Women's Bureau communications officer Lisa Lahari Williams, PIJO has set alight industry debate over regional issues, not just media. Since January 2008 this year, a founding congratulatory email from IBI editor-in-chief Laisa Taga has blossomed into just over 2,000 comments from regional media. That's about 400 a month from, roughly, zero.

Trouble is the collective wisdom of the media - silent or spoken - stays hidden behind the safety walls of what started as a public forum. Now private.

FIJI

Ah, Fiji.

Quite rightly, the forum hid so that reporters from Fiji could alert their colleagues to latest outrages from the army regime.

In safety.

CHILL

Understandbly, a coup generates a fair amount of hysteria, even among seen-it-all journalists.

Appropriately, news teams and other watchdogs in Fiji post regular updates on abuse and intimidation of media. If an administration seeks to place a chill upon the media, journalists often respond with fire.

Less appropriately, editorials from some media pound out a drum beat of negativity, neglecting ethical promises of balance. It would perhaps add to the credibility of Fiji Times, for example, if there were equally strident updates on behind-the-scenes corruption by business.

PIJO

Enter PIJO, Pacific Islands Journalism Online.

PIJO was established as an admiring critic of PINA, the region's one, and only, media organisation, the Pacific Islands News Association, based in Suva, Fiji.

PIJO has done voluntarily what a decade or more of aid, academic, and business accumen has failed to do - create an online community of journalists and media workers - including a wide range of hands-on publishers and broadcasters.

WELCOME ...

... to the 3rd millennium.

Back in the good old 2nd millennium days, regional media were lucky to get half-a-dozen updates a year. Now, some days, the industry gets six or more an hour.

PIJO took off convincingly. It had credibility.

That credibility came from a regional dedication to the transformative power of the media, a long, slow push quietly backed by our old friends at SPC and visions from one of its riskier recruiting decisions - a journalist, fresh from frontline, frontpage combat. Six years later ....

BACKGROUND

Journalists across the globe are an increasingly endangered species.

Killing fields of Iraq. Thirty years of corporate attrition among reporters, following Watergate and subsequent conglomeration of media interests. In our region, TVNZ, New Zealand's state broadcaster recently "shed" dozens of media jobs. Now a regional media player, Fairfax, is doing the same thing. Dozens more jobs gone.

Not so much a case of conspiracy theories as stating the bleedin' obvious.

NEXT

where media fear to tread II