BAE/ECGD corruption scandal expands to include OECD

(ECA Watch, Paris, 25 April 2007) Following an April 19 Economist article by it's aerospace correspondent on appointments and personal expenditures by the OECD's Secretary-General Angel Gurria, the Guardian has stated that Gurría believes the UK is encouraging a smear campaign against him similar to that being waged against Mark Pieth, Chair of the OECD Working Group on Bribery, as a result of OECD enquiries into the British government's decision to end a major inquiry into allegations that (British Aerospace - BAE) paid massive bribes to land export credit supported Saudi arms deals.

Meanwhile, the Campaign Against the Arms Trade, having succeeded in a court order to force BAE to divulge its source of legally privileged internal documents from CAAT, on 19 April 2007, together with The Corner House, lodged grounds for a judicial review of the Government's decision to abandon a corruption investigation into BAE Systems.

In its April 23-24 meeting in Paris, the OECD Working Group on Export Credits (ECG) received a report from the OECD Directorate responsible for the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention on recent developments of interest to ECG Members and Non-Member Economies (NMEs). While the content of this briefing remains unknown, it would not be surprising if it concerned the BAE/ECGD bribery allegations. The ECG meeting also considered and approved an updated survey questionnaire on anti-bribery measures, to take into account the revised Action Statement on Bribery approved 11 months ago by the ECG and adopted as a Recommendation by the OECD Council in December 2006. Japan had proposed substantive changes to the questionnaire and the US also raised concerns, while the UK eventually agreed to accept the proposed survey as drafted by the Secretariat.