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DoJ Opens Investigation Into Bandar Payments, Others
Josh Meyer at the Los Angeles Times makes it official: the Department of Justice has opened an investigation into whether BAE Systems, the British defense corporation accused of bribing ex-Saudi Ambassador to the U.S. Prince Bandar bin Sultan, has violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The Act is meant to prevent companies engaged in bribery from doing business in the United States. Bandar's alleged payoffs are only one element in the inquiry, as the British government's Serious Fraud Office has linked BAE to fraud cases in Tanzania, South Africa, Chile, the Czech Republic, Qatar and Romania.
The Justice Department is investigating whether British defense giant BAE Systems, which supplies Bradley fighting vehicles to the U.S. military and is becoming a major player in the U.S. defense industry, paid bribes to win contracts in Saudi Arabia, Chile and elsewhere, federal officials confirmed Thursday.The Justice Department's fraud section, with the FBI's help, has begun a preliminary investigation to review allegations that the company conducted an ambitious campaign of payoffs to key officials to win contracts to sell fighter jets and other major weapons systems, according to several federal law enforcement officials familiar with the case. The key officials included Prince Bandar bin Sultan, former Saudi ambassador to the United States and a close Bush administration ally.
Yet according to the LAT, it's far from certain whether investigators will assemble a prosecutable case:
The investigation is in its early stages, according to the officials. At least one senior Justice Department official questioned the likelihood of a successful prosecution that would have to rely on uncooperative suspects and witnesses overseas, and, in some cases, alleged transactions dating back more than 20 years.But the federal law enforcement official said the allegations against BAE were too serious for federal authorities to overlook.
A second federal law enforcement official familiar with the probe said prosecutors were gathering information to determine whether they had the proper grounds and evidence to move forward. "It's not full-steam ahead, on the verge of prosecution," the official said. "It is something that we are reviewing, to decide whether to move forward with it."
It would be a decision with huge consequences. Last month, BAE announced plans to purchase Armor Holdings -- the largest Defense Department contractor for armored wheeled vehicles like Humvees and Strykers -- in a deal estimated to be worth over $4 billion. Any DoJ prosecution would scotch the purchase, something very costly to both Armor Holdings (headquartered in the swing state of Florida) and the U.K. Not surprisingly, the State Department, fearing damage to the U.S.-U.K. relationship, has sent emissaries to the Senate and House foreign-affairs committees in the hopes of preempting any congressional action.
That appears to have been successful -- for now -- but a Justice Department investigation both puts a wrench into the BAE-Armor Holdings deal and risks further exposure of Bandar's relationship with the company. Earlier this month, the Guardian and the BBC reported that Bandar has been the recipient of $2 billion in kickbacks from BAE stretching back over 20 years, due to a massive Saudi purchase of British aircraft in the 1980s. Both Bandar and the company deny the charges.
Comments (17)
ecoast wrote on June 15, 2007 10:14 AM:DOJ shouldn't just look at Bandar-BAE connection. That's not where the real money is (even though it was $2B). If Bandar was taking money from the British deal, why wasn't he
ecoast wrote on June 15, 2007 10:15 AM:taking money from the US companies? His base of operations was the US and lot of American companies (oil, construction, finance) got lots of contracts from the Saudis. 80's were the golden years for Bandar. Slowed down during Clinton terms and picked up again in 2001.
DOJ will whitewash of course.
DOJ shouldn't just look at Bandar-BAE connection. That's not where the real money is (even though it was $2B). If Bandar was taking money from the British deal, why wasn't he
ecoast wrote on June 15, 2007 10:15 AM:taking money from the US companies? His base of operations was the US and lot of American companies (oil, construction, finance) got lots of contracts from the Saudis. 80's were the golden years for Bandar. Slowed down during Clinton terms and picked up again in 2001.
DOJ will whitewash of course.
DOJ shouldn't just look at Bandar-BAE connection. That's not where the real money is (even though it was $2B). If Bandar was taking money from the British deal, why wasn't he
gcs wrote on June 15, 2007 10:35 AM:taking money from the US companies? His base of operations was the US and lot of American companies (oil, construction, finance) got lots of contracts from the Saudis. 80's were the golden years for Bandar. Slowed down during Clinton terms and picked up again in 2001.
DOJ will whitewash of course.
Yeah right. This should go far.
blaneyboy wrote on June 15, 2007 10:42 AM:Not sure how far this will go. Tony Blair brazenly shut down the English investigation of this very mess on grounds that the investigation would damage England's vital national security interests. Dubya and Gonzales will undoubtedly do the same.
blaneyboy wrote on June 15, 2007 10:43 AM:Not sure how far this will go. Tony Blair brazenly shut down the English investigation of this very mess on grounds that the investigation would damage England's vital national security interests. Dubya and Gonzales will undoubtedly do the same.
Pilgrim wrote on June 15, 2007 10:46 AM:Go back to Perkins' "Confessions of an Economic Hitman" and see that in most deals with Saudis all the princes get a bite of the apple (read "commissions")- sometimes that adds up to half the price, according to Perkins who negotiated some deals a few years ago.
Wally wrote on June 15, 2007 10:54 AM:Bandar taking a bribe is the financial equivalent of Monty Python's Mr. Creosote eating one "wafer thin mint."
tinfoil hat wrote on June 15, 2007 11:01 AM:If the Saudi princes get kickbacks, is not logical to expect the UAE sheiks got kickbacks for the USA port deal?
SamD wrote on June 15, 2007 11:26 AM:Bandar? That's Bandar Bush, right? Oh yeah, this has legs.
Uncle Montana wrote on June 15, 2007 11:37 AM:Two words:
Sibel Edmonds.
SocraticGadfly wrote on June 15, 2007 11:39 AM:The one way we'll really know an investigation like this has legs is if the two phrases "Saudi Arabia" and "Carlyle Group" get mentioned in the same sentence.
ann wrote on June 15, 2007 12:25 PM:Where does American Big Defense fit in here? Could they be pushing the investigation?
psyopswatcher wrote on June 15, 2007 12:33 PM:Maybe they can borrow the banking expert Ali Riza from State to help track the financial wheelings and dealings.
Question is, does she have the clearances?
SC bent: I know that's bent, but I can't help throwing her references in any chance I get since she's a federal employee. There's something bent there. And my suspicion is that if she's doing anything there, it's involved in covering this kind of stuff up.
PBen wrote on June 15, 2007 12:53 PM:Check out "Bandar Bush the Black Ops Bagman" at DailyKos....
johnnydoughey wrote on June 15, 2007 1:06 PM:The problem is not in the action, but in the definition. His attorneys need to explain that they were "Lobbying" not "Bribing".
Arlo J. Thudpucker wrote on June 16, 2007 10:40 PM:DOJ and congress will probably accept that reasoning without a whimper...
Since the US has sold Saudi Arabia a weapon or two in the past couple of decades, it's reasonable to assume Bandar Bush employed the very same business practices with US companies.
It's highly unlikely that Bandar's "commission" was delivered in suitcases stuffed with cash.
As we have seen in the BAE debacle, such payoffs require a sophisticated network of middlemen.
There are probably many people and institutions who have been involved in such transfers. This will provide plenty of threads to pull.
It would come as no great surprise to find that those complicit in the network were also paid off.
I would further expect some to be in positions of power within the administration.
Surprise, surprise.