Saudi bribe claims delay 20bn fighter deal

Posted on: Jun. 7th, 2007 || Source: timesonline.co.uk | E-mail Article | Print Article

Saudi bribe claims delay 20bn fighter deal

Saudi Arabia's 20 billion British Pound deal with BAE Systems, the UK's largest defence company, to buy 72 Eurofighter Typhoons is being held up by the controversy surrounding allegations of bribes paid to Saudi officials.

The Typhoon deal has already slipped from June to July as the Saudis insisted that it should be ratified by Britain’s new prime minister, Gordon Brown, who will take over at the end of June.

Now that allegations have surfaced that BAE paid more than £1 billion to Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia, defence sources say that the deal, which will help to secure more than 10,000 jobs at BAE, is set to slip into August.

However, they also say there is no chance that the deal will be cancelled despite the embarrassment caused by accusations of corruption in an earlier arms deal between BAE and Saudi Arabia.

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