Saudis expect Eurofighters 'soon'

Published: Jan 08, 2007
Source: news.bbc.co.uk



Saudi Arabia has said it will start taking deliveries of 72 Eurofighter jets from UK defence company BAE Systems "very soon".

The comments come a month after the Serious Fraud Office controversially dropped an investigation into a 1980s BAE Systems deal with Saudi Arabia.

It was reported that the Saudis had threatened to cancel the Eurofighter deal unless the probe was halted.

The UK government said the inquiry was dropped for national security reasons.

Yet critics attacked the move, saying the government had put commercial interest before ethics and had given in to Saudi blackmail.continue..