AP News, June 11th, 2007
BAE Systems PLC, the aerospace company accused of funneling money to a Saudi prince in a major arms deal, will appoint a former lord chief justice to head a review of business practices, the British Broadcasting Corp. reported Monday.
BAE Systems declined to confirm or deny the report.
"All that we are saying is that the board regularly reviews the policies and processes of the company regarding international business practices," said spokeswoman Lisa Hillary-Tee.
The BBC said the review, to be led by Lord Woolf, the recently retired chief justice of England and Wales, would focus on the company's current business practices.
The BBC and The Guardian newspaper have recently alleged that BAE paid up to $2 billion to Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan, a key figure in negotiating the Al-Yamamah contract for more than 100 planes in 1985.
Bandar has denied that he personally received any money, but that he did have access to an account related to the contract in a bank in Washington, D.C.
In a statement released Monday in London, Bandar said The Guardian's reports encouraged readers "to believe that the monies in question came from funds belonging to BAE and that the payments represented corrupt inducements to my personal benefit while I was serving as ambassador of my country to the United States of America."
"The Guardian allegations as stated above are not only untrue but are grotesque in their absurdity, because the funds mentioned were Saudi government money from start to finish. Thus, the account in the United States was a Saudi government account and not my personal account," Bandar said in the statement made through his public relations adviser, Alan Kilkenny.
Bandar said the Riggs Bank, which held the account, was investigated by U.S. authorities but that no irregularities were found in the account.
Riggs Bank pleaded guilty in 2005 to a U.S. felony charge of failing to report suspicious transactions involving foreigners _ including former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and members of his family. Riggs agreed to pay a $16 million fine.
Riggs Bank was subsequently taken over by PNC Financial Services Group Inc.
