主のBAEの場合
CAATのニュース | 5人の年長の裁判官は技術的に主の委員会である従ってヒアリングは主」王のHarold埋葬の巨大な絵画によって支配された委員会部屋で起こった。 場合文書の銀行が部屋を渡る壁を形作ったので裁判官の頭部の上だけ(かつらなしで)公共の座席のほとんどから目に見えた。 Between the Judges and the rest of us sat eleven bewigged barristers – CAAT and The Corner House had four (David Pannick QC, Philippe Sands QC, Dinah Rose QC and Ben Jaffey) and the Government five, whilst ‘interested party’ BAE, and ‘intervener’ Justice, a human rights and law reform organisation, had one apiece. すべてのこれらのバリスターは懇願者のチームによって支持された。 主の」権限が余分ベンチを加えたのに、部屋のこの従者左の小さいスペース。
私達は完全に- CAATおよび角の家の人々を詰め込んだ; BAEの堕落の主張を露出するためにそんなにした保護者の`s Rob Evansは他のペーパー、BBCおよび専門家の法的雑誌からのジャーナリストと共にそこにあった; 政府がこの場合として堕落の照会を停止する1997年の反汚職の大会が無意味されることかかわっている経済協力開発機構からの代表はおびただしいノートを取った; ピーターGardinerは、SFOに証拠を与えた前のBAEの旅行代理店見た; そして多くの他はあった。
議論
ジョナサンSumption QC、政府の鉛のバリスターは最初に行った。 彼はどのに関する場合を彼が調査するか、または行なったかSFOのディレクターに、独立した遂行者のような、広い思慮分別が、彼ちょうど彼の決定ことをの`」適度に機能しなければならなかったあったことを論争した。 彼はまた外務省からどんなと対照をなしてJustice Moses主を高等法院で言ったか証人の、サウジアラビアの役人の注意はずっとイギリスの政府と法的権限間の権力分立に引き分けであることを示すために声明を作り出した。
デイヴィッドPannickはこれに挑戦した。 He said the rule of law had to prevail and that this demanded that the SFO did not give into threats by Saudi Arabia to withdraw cooperation on anti-terrorism until all other options had been exhausted and, even then, only if it was strictly necessary. The Government, he said, did not meet this test, as all bar one of the approaches to Saudi Arabia listed in the Foreign Office statement had been made before the threats were issued and all were fairly casual mentions in the course of other meetings. Additionally, the UK did not seem to have reminded Saudi Arabia of its anti-terrorism commitments.
With regards to the OECD Convention, Dinah Rose argued that this was a relevant consideration because the SFO Director said his decision was made in accordance with it – the question was whether ‘national security’ was an implied exemption or not and she said not – whilst the Government said it was up to the OECD to decide on this issue.
No decision as yet
There was very little intervention by the Judges as the barristers made their submissions. This, we were told, is unusual. Each of five Judges now considers the submissions, looks up the precedents and writes his or her own speech – the verdict is the majority view. The result will be announced, most likely in October, when the Judges’ committee reports to the full House of Lords. Justice?
Campaign update
The House of Lords has overturned the High Court’s ruling that the Government broke the law by stopping the corruption investigation into BAE Systems’ Saudi arms deals. The case had been brought by CAAT and The Corner House with widespread support.
The Serious Fraud Office’s appeal was heard by the House of Lords on the 7th and 8th of July and judgment was given on 30th July.
One of the judges, 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.” However, she had to agree with her colleagues that the decision taken by the SFO Director was lawful.
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. 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.
CAAT and The Corner House are not dejected by the result as it has brought the whole issue into the public realm and clarified the law.
Have Your Say: BAE case in the Lords
Please read our posting guidelines before posting.
Alternatively you can discuss this report here.
This entry was posted on Thursday, August 14th, 2008 at 10:34 pm and is filed under Contributions & Guests . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Translations
Loading ...Related News
- Hacker Appeals To House Of Lords
- Ministers under pressure to reopen BAE investigation
- US Justice Department to probe BAE Saudi deals
- BAE unaware of ‘planned US probe’
- McKinnon loses fight against extradition
Email This Page To A Friend
Latest Headlines
- Channel 4 journalist grills Olympics organisers over human rights
- India to examine protest deaths
- Rwanda: Obscuring the Truth About the Genocide
- Another inconvenient truth: Fiscal Armageddon, coming to a cinema near you
- British libel laws violate human rights, says UN
- What’s on Tap and What You Need to Know About Drinking Water
- BAE case in the Lords
- Guantanamo general calls 2nd general ‘bullying’
- Antiwar activists seek expanded police probe
- Is Perpetual War Our Future? Learning the Wrong Lessons from the Bush Era
More Breaking News
Archive
