In case you haven’t been following this, the British Government had launched an investigation in to defense contractor paying bribes to Saudi officials, including Bush family BFF and former Saudi Ambassador to the United States Prince Bandar bin Sultan. As you probably already know,Prince Bandar knew about the Invasion of Iraq before our own State Department. As it turns out, while Prince Bandar was getting more access to our deepest secrets than our own State Department, he was also getting up to 120 million Pounds a year deposited into a Washington DC Riggs Bank account for facilitating the 43 billion pound Al-Yamanah arms deal between Saudi Arabia and BAE.
The investgation was quashed because Bandar threatened the UK if they didn't stop.
More chilling details on the flip...
The investigation found that up to £120m a year was sent by BAE Systems from the UK into two Saudi embassy accounts in Washington.
The BBC's Panorama programme has established that these accounts were actually a conduit to Prince Bandar for his role in the 1985 deal to sell more than 100 warplanes to Saudi Arabia.
The purpose of one of the accounts was to pay the expenses of the prince's private Airbus.
David Caruso, an investigator who worked for the American bank where the accounts were held, said Prince Bandar had been taking money for his own personal use out of accounts that seemed to belong to his government.
He said: "There wasn't a distinction between the accounts of the embassy, or official government accounts as we would call them, and the accounts of the royal family."
Hmmmm. Why is that significant? Because Bandar's wife was paying some of the 9/11 hijackers:
Findings from an inquiry by the House-Senate Joint Intelligence Committee suggest evidence indicates money from the Saudi Arabian government could have made its way to the two hijackers through two Saudi students when they were in California.
There is some evidence that the students received a payment through the wife of the Saudi ambassador to the United States, according to the inquiry.
Do you get that? Money goes from BAE to bank accounts controlled by Prince Bandar bin Sultan to the 9/11 hijackers in California.
Now here is the REAL outrageous part. There is a scene in The Wire where detective extroadinaire Lester Freamon tells his fellow detectives
You follow the drugs, you get a drug case. You follow the money, you don't know where you are going to go.
Well, Bandar Bush knows this too well, and moved to quash a British investigation into BAE's bribery by threatening Great Britain with terrorist attacks. And Tony Blair folded:
December 8 2006 Marked SECRET-PERSONAL, Tony Blair to attorney general three days after Prince Bandar flies to London. The prime minister claims UK national security would be at risk if case proceeds: "The critical difficulty presented to the negotiations over the Typhoon contract ... All intelligence cooperation was under threat ... It is in my judgment very clear that the continuation of the SFO investigation into al-Yamamah risks seriously damaging confidence in the UK as a partner ... I am taking the exceptional step of writing to you myself"
SFO caves in
December 13 2006 Serious Fraud Office internal memo, summarising meeting with British ambassador who told it of Saudi warnings to cut off intelligence links if the fraud inquiry proceeds: "We had been told that 'British lives on British streets' were at risk ... If this caused another 7/7, how could we say that our investigation was more important? ... If further investigation will cause such damage to national and international security, [the head of the SFO] accepted it would not be in the public interest"
Meanwhile, the USDOJ has opened its own investigation and a small town in Michigan actually won a case in court against Riggs Bank and Bandar Bush:
WASHINGTON - A federal judge has temporarily blocked Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the former Saudi ambassador to the United States, from removing real estate sales proceeds from the United States pending resolution of a class-action lawsuit.
The suit filed last September by a tiny Michigan city retirement system accuses current and former directors of BAE Systems PLC (other-otc: BAESF.PK - news - people ), a giant British defense company, of breaches of fiduciary duties in connection with $2 billion or more in alleged illegal bribes paid to Bandar in connection with an $86 billion BAE arms sale to Saudi Arabia in 1985.
Bandar also is named a defendant in the suit, along with the former Riggs Bank of Washington and its successor, PNC Financial Group.
The dots are there. Why isn't this front paged? WHy isn't there more outrage? Oh yeah - he's our dealer. Don't want to piss the dealer off.
Timeline of the al-Yamanah/BAE deal:
Story of a £43bn deal
1985 Al-Yamamah agreement signed by Saudi defence minister Prince Sultan and the then defence secretary Michael Heseltine. Saudis agree to buy 72 Tornado and 30 Hawk warplanes. The deal - "the dove" in Arabic - will in time be worth £43bn to BAE
1989 National Audit Office (NAO) starts inquiry into allegations that members of Saudi royal family and middlemen were secretly paid huge bribes to land Al-Yamamah contract
1992 MPs and auditor general Sir John Bourn suppress NAO report after government claims it would upset Saudis. Report never published
2001 Whistleblower alleges BAE operates "slush fund" to keep sweet the Saudi prince in charge of country's air force, but MoD covers up allegations
2004 Second whistleblower discloses to Guardian further details of slush fund. Serious Fraud Office starts investigation into alleged BAE corruption
2006 Government halts SFO inquiry; investigators were about to gain access to Swiss accounts thought to have been linked to Saudi royal family
2007 OECD, the world's anti-bribery watchdog, rebukes Blair government for terminating SFO investigation, and launches own inquiry