• croatiantimes.com
• romaniantimes.at
• salzburgtimes.at
• viennatimes.at
• austrianindependent.com

Today

• Vienna - VESCC English Catholic Mass
• Vienna - Unknown Underground
• Vienna - Cats
• Vienna - Andy Warhol
• Vienna - Laser Tag

07. 02. 10. - 10:00

• more Business news
• RSS Feed Business

07. 02. 10. - 10:00

Austrian arms lobbyist free after €330mn plea bargain deal

Austrian lobbyist Alfons Mensdorff-Pouilly has had all charges dropped after the British Serious Fraud Office (SFO) agreed a "plea bargain" with British defence company BAE Systems.

BAE have for the first time admitted to two criminal charges in response to longstanding corruption allegations and have agreed to pay over 330 million Euros to the UK and US authorities. But campaigners say that the settlement has let the company “off the hook”, as it keeps the issue out of the courts.

The move means that BAE lobbyist Mensdorff-Pouilly can walk free and will not have to testify in a court.

In the UK, the SFO agreed to accept 34 million Euros from BAE and an admission to accounting irregularities in respect of their 2002 deal with Tanzania, which has long been dogged by accusations of bribery. Clare Short, who was the UK’s International Development Secretary at the time, says that the deal “stank” of corruption.

However, the SFO will drop its inquiries into allegations of bribery on an even greater scale in BAE deals with South Africa and the Czech Republic.

The Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) said that they were “shocked and angered” by the SFO’s agreement with BAE.

“There will be no opportunity to discover the truth behind alleged bribery and corruption in the many BAE deals that were under investigation” they said in a statement, adding that £30 million is “a tiny price for BAE”, which is one of the world’s largest arms companies.

CAAT insisted that the truth about BAE’s deals in Africa and Europe must come out in court. They suggested that this has become even more important since 2006, when Tony Blair’s government pressurised the SFO into dropping their investigation into BAE’s deals with Saudi Arabia.

There has been particular surprise that the settlement has been reached only a week after a former BAE agent, Alfons Mensdorff-Pouilly, was arrested on corruption charges.

“One day a former BAE agent appears in court charged with corruption; the next BAE is let off for an accounting misdemeanour” said CAAT’s Kaye Stearman.

Andrew Feinstein, a former MP in South Africa who has led the campaign to examine BAE’s deals with the country, said that the SFO had sent “the message that large enough corporations are able to pay their way out of trouble."

In a separate deal, BAE will pay out over £250 million to the US authorities, who accuse the company of “wilfully misleading” the US Department of Justice over various arms contracts, including those with Saudi Arabia.

Nicholas Hildyard of anti-corruption NGO The Corner House, said that, given BAE’s admission of guilt in the US concerning their Saudi deals, the SFO “should re-open its own Saudi Arabian investigation immediately”.

The Guardian, which uncovered much of the evidence on which corruption allegations have been based, welcomed BAE’s admission of guilt while appearing frustrated that the matter had not come to court.

BAE’s admissions and payouts contradict their previous insistence that they were not guilty. However, no BAE director or senior official has resigned as a result of the confessions.

BAE insisted the issue is “very much in the past”, although the offences with which Mensdorff-Pouilly was charged last week related to BAE deals as recent as December 2008.

Olver has long faced derision for his attempt to portray BAE as an ethical company. Even after making the plea bargain, he said that BAE would be a “transparent, modern, clean company”.

He told the BBC that “all these matters” had now been settled. But Nicholas Hildyard said that, “Far from drawing a line under the allegations, today’s announcement simply raises far more questions and creates yet further demands for justice."

After the SFO dropped its Saudi investigation in 2006, legal action by CAAT and The Corner House resulted in the High Court ruling that the government and SFO had behaved illegally, although the decision was later overturned by the law lords. It remains to be seen whether there will be a legal challenge on this occasion.

Mensdorff-Pouilly, husband of former People's Party (ÖVP) Health Minister Maria Rauch-Kallat, is now a free man. A spokesman for the couple refused to say when they might return to Austria.

It is unclear whether Austrian authorities now also abandon their investigations against Mensdorff-Pouilly which have been ongoing for more than one and a half years.

Austrian Times

Related articles: political scandals

1. Coalition accelerates anti-corruption ambitions

   » General News 2012-05-24

   The government is intensifying its attempts to pass a transparency package in parliament.

2. Army pays 2,000 staff for being idle

   » General News 2012-05-23

   The pressure on Social Democratic (SPÖ) Defence and Sport Minister Norbert Darabos is increasing as a new Audit Office (RH) examination indicates a waste of taxpayers’ money by the army.

3. Foul-mouthed MPs might face fines

   » General News 2012-05-23

   Fritz Neugebauer has started another attempt to introduce a system of fees for abusive parliament delegates (MPs).

more related articles tagged "political scandals"

Related articles: EU

1. Pecik defends TA engagement

   » Business 2012-05-24

   Telekom Austria (TA) investor Ronny Pecik has declared himself a team player.

2. IV demands focus on industry in crisis

   » Business 2012-05-24

   The general secretary of the Federation of Austrian Industries (IV) has appealed on Europe’s political leaders to strengthen the continent’s industry.

3. FW turnover takes off

   » Business 2012-05-24

   Austria’s biggest airport has managed to increase its profit.

more related articles tagged "EU"

Related articles: business scandals

1. Coalition accelerates anti-corruption ambitions

   » General News 2012-05-24

   The government is intensifying its attempts to pass a transparency package in parliament.

2. Pecik defends TA engagement

   » Business 2012-05-24

   Telekom Austria (TA) investor Ronny Pecik has declared himself a team player.

3. Petrol traders plan legal action

   » Business 2012-05-17

   The domestic mineral oil industry plans to sue the government about plans to set up a tool regulating fuel prices.

more related articles tagged "business scandals"

Turks flattened by lone asylum seeker
A furious Nigerian went on the rampage at a refuge for asylum seekers in Leibnitz, attacking several people and damaging property.

Woman bites toddler
A woman who bit a two-year-old tot during a road rage row with her mother is being quizzed by police in Wiener Neustadt, Austria.

New Dany Boon comedy to be filmed in Austria
The French film star Dany Boon, one of the highest paid actors in Europe after his hit film "Welcome to the Sticks", is filming in Salzburg.

China meets Hallstatt
After a long time of speculation and anticipation the exact copy of Austrian world heritage village of Hallstatt-Dachstein in China will be unveiled, and there will be real-life Austrians present for the ceremony.

Skier in court after accident
A man from Graz is in court today accused of having inflicted negligent injury upon a five-year-old when skiing in Carinthia last year.

Two fires in Ottakring claim one life
Two fires started on Thursday evening in the Vienna district of Ottakring, one of which claimed a man’s life. Several people were evacuated as a result of the two blazes.

Cows zapped to death by lightning
Four cows were zapped to death after a lightning strike hit the barbed wire fence they were leaning on in Reith im Alpbachtal, Austria.

Wolf babies born in Schönbrunn
These cuddly Artic wolf cubs have got every right to look a bit frosty - after they emerged into the world for the first time in the middle of a 27 degree heatwave.

Cleaned Out
A Hungarian cleaning woman who stole tens of thousands of pounds worth of antique jewellery from an Austrian Countess and then sold it for "pocket money" unaware of its real value has been jailed by a court in Austria.

Great expectations for summer tourism season in Vorarlberg
The Vorarlberg tourism industry is currently riding high after a record breaking winter season, and the summer season is expected to follow that same trend.

Jobs in Austria