Fraud office is investigating £28m deal agreed by Blair

Revisited from way back in June 2003--BBC article at the bottom of this post. Since then several things have changed. Tanzania has a new president, and Blair has fallen from grace due to Baghdad hiccup...


The Times November 13, 2006

Fraud office is investigating £28m deal agreed by Blair
By Sam Coates
Members of the Cabinet were overruled by the Prime Minister when they queried a BAE Systems contract in Tanzania, writes our correspondent

Protesters dressed as Tony Blair and Sir Richard Evans suggest close
links between the two in 2004 (Nick Ray/The Times)

A CONTROVERSIAL deal personally approved by Tony Blair to send a
multimillion-pound air traffic control system to Africa is being
investigated for corruption, The Times can reveal.

The Serious Fraud Office and Ministry of Defence police are looking
into allegations that BAE Systems paid backhanders to the Tanzanian
Government for a £28 million military air traffic control system.

The Prime Minister overruled Gordon Brown and other Cabinet ministers
to approve the deal, despite warnings from the World Bank that it could
have bought a non-military system for a tenth of the price.

Investigators, who have been studying the deal for more than six
months, made a fact-finding visit to the House of Commons last
Wednesday. They were handed a dossier of evidence compiled by Norman
Lamb, the Liberal Democrat MP who has played a key role questioning the
deal.

The news that a Serious Fraud Office (SFO) investigation is under way
risks reopening one of the most divisive rows of the last Parliament,
which pitted the Chancellor and Clare Short, the former International
Development Secretary, against Jack Straw, Patricia Hewitt and Geoff
Hoon, who were in favour of the deal.


Friday, 14 June, 2002, 08:34 GMT 09:34 UK
Tanzania radar sale 'waste of cash'

A £28m military air traffic control system the UK Government wants to sell Tanzania is a complete waste of money, according to the World Bank. Sources have told the BBC the bank had branded the system old, inappropriate and unworkable in a United Nations' International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) report commissioned by the bank. Tanzania could buy a civilian system for an eighth of the cost, it said. And the British system would not even cover all of the east African country's civil aviation needs, according to the report. Tanzania's President Mkapa has held urgent talks with Tony Blair about the findings, according to press reports. BBC defence correspondent Andrew Gilligan said the report is highly critical and claims the technology is old and inappropriate. Liberal Democrat MP Norman Lamb told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I think this brings into strong question the judgement of the prime minister and Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon. Norman Lamb: Report raises serious questions "International Development Secretary Clare Short made very clear in autumn last year that she was very unhappy with the deal. "And yet they pushed through this export licence in December last year, despite clear evidence the entire system was inappropriate." Manufacturers BAE Systems have accused the report of making false cost comparisons. But Liberal Democrat international development spokesman Norman Lamb has conducted his own investigation. Objections He told The Guardian newspaper: "A modern civilian air traffic control system can cost as little as £3.5m. "The Department of Trade and Industry, with the apparent support of the prime minister, has colluded with British Aerospace and Barclays Bank in foisting an expensive and unnecessary arms deal on the desperately poor people of Tanzania. "It is no surprise the Tanzanian Government have reacted with horror." Clare Short was concerned about the cost Barclays Bank said they do not comment on individual loans but any loan they do make has to conform with export licensing laws. Mr Blair over-ruled objections from Cabinet colleagues, including Chancellor Gordon Brown, to grant an export license for the product last December. Ms Short had argued that such an advanced system was unnecessary and the cash could be better spent. In March she ordered the delay of a £9.7m aid payment to Tanzania pending the results of the report.