Blair under pressure over dropped probe -report [View All]

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Some 130 campaign groups and charities have written to Prime Minister Tony Blair in a bid to reopen a corruption inquiry into a multi-billion-pound defence deal with Saudi Arabia, the Financial Times said.

The groups, which include Amnesty International, Oxfam, Friends of the Earth and Transparency International, have also written to other minister over last month's decision to halt the Serious Fraud Office investigation into deals involving Saudi officials and people working for BAE Systems, it said.

They warned that the government would probably do "irreparable damage" to Britain's anti-bribery reputation and could be accused of "double standards" in its dealings with the developing world, the FT reported.

"The early termination of the investigation for reasons that do not relate to the legal merits of the case sends the message that companies trading with countries that a government claims to be of strategic importance are above the law and can bribe with impunity," it cited an extract from the letter as saying.

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Pressure for Blair over corruption probe
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/68ded2ec-a413-11db-bec4-0000779e2340.html