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The BBC is reporting: Saudi prince ‘received arms cash’
A Saudi prince received secret payments from the UK’s biggest arms dealer, a BBC investigation has revealed.
BAE Systems made regular payments of hundreds of millions of pounds to Prince Bandar bin Sultan for more than a decade.
The payments were made with the full knowledge of the Ministry of Defence.
Prince Bandar would not comment and BAE systems said they acted lawfully at all times. The MoD said information about the Al Yamamah deal was confidential.
The Prince served for 20 years as Saudi ambassador to the US.
This is the Shrubbery’s best buddy; the man who taught him everything he knows about the Middle East, the current national security advisor to Saudi King Abdullah. It looks like he was paid about $2 billion for his consulting gig.
Tony “the Poodle” Blair stopped the government investigation into the Al Yamamah deal because of “national security concerns.”
Update: I forgot to include the currency conversion when looking at the total Bandar received.
2 comments
The Guardian says, and Josh Marshall echoes, that there could well be investigations and unpleasant revelations on our side of the pond as well. Bribery is never really a surprise, but secret government participation in a purportedly free society is to my mind a big deal.
(Yes, I know that inserting two links may trigger your filter.)
The filter is at four links, but I can adjust or over-ride the setting.
BAE is a major military contractor in the US as well as the UK, and is trying to buy up several smaller companies.
A gold Rolls is one thing, but $200K+ per year is excessive, since it is ultimately taxpayers’ money. You know full well the bribes were expensed as costs.