Graft In British Defense Industry

Re Payload: Taking Aim at Corporate Bribery by Nelson D. Schwartz and Lowell Bergman in today's NY Times:

Before getting to the heart of this issue, it is curious how former FBI Director Louis Freeh, who botched things catastrophically just before and after 9/11, now works for the Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the kingdom’s former ambassador to the United States. (He is not alone. So does "one of the fathers of the F.C.P.A., the retired federal judge Stanley Sporkin". It often seems that people who work honorably all their lives, very often switch sides just in time to ruin their legacies. Then again, maybe Freeh figured he had already ruined his legacy.)

F.C.P.A. stands for "Foreign Corrupt Practices Act". This is one of the key laws with which the US is attempting to fight graft in international business.

It seems that the Brits have a real knack for bribery, and the big defense contractor BAE is the master of graft. Even Tony Blair is in favor of bribing the Saudis in order to get defense contracts with the Islamic country most affiliated with our mortal enemy, al Qaeda.

Of course, the US has its share of shady businesses, even if we are not in the same league as GB. "Halliburton, an oil services giant that was once headed by Vice President Dick Cheney, has disclosed that it is facing an F.C.P.A. investigation into its activities in Nigeria before, during and after Mr. Cheney’s tenure at the company. A spokeswoman for the vice president declined to comment. Halliburton did not respond to an interview request."

The article focuses mostly on the corrupt practices and gall which permeate the British company BAE.

"BAE said it is unaware of any investigations of the company in Hungary. “BAE Systems has very strong policies and processes in place which it is clearly committed to communicating to its employees and advisers,” a spokesman said. “Any action which is unlawful, dishonest, harmful to others or otherwise against our policies, is unacceptable.”"

Corruption on the scale of international business is always difficult to prove in courts of justice, especially when heads of state (e.g., Tony Blair) and turncoats like Louis Freeh are involved. Still, one can only hope that the threat of prison, fines and destroyed reputations will be able to overcome the enormous greed which incites BAE-scale graft.