The thin line between disgrace and �34bn. Happy days for BAE
? No one wins in war, they say, but this doesn't quite take into account the
topsy-turvy fortunes of our friends at BAE Systems. Every strongman needs his
arms. That's where BAE comes in. And things are all going very well for the
company as it emerges from the nightmare of nonstop investigations over the
�43bn al-Yamamah fighter plane sales to Saudi Arabia and smaller deals in
central Europe. Also the light directed towards the highly controversial sale
of a military radar to poverty-stricken Tanzania. In time, BAE admitted false
accounting and making misleading statements in relation to allegations of
corruption. But the allegations of corruption themselves, which were always
strongly denied, were successfully rebuffed, and that has proved to be
crucial. The company, if judged corrupt, would have been excluded from doing
business with the US government, by dint of the US Foreign Corrupt Practices
Act. As things transpired, note Drury D Stevenson and Nicholas J Wagoner of
the South Texas College of Law, who have examined the aftermath, in the 365
days that followed the payment of penalties worth �300m, BAE "was ...Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, RSS Feeds and Widgets via Feedzilla.
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