Corrupt British war profiteers BAE Systems: a state within the state

By George Monbiot in British daily The Guardian:

The parallel universe of BAE: covert, dangerous and beyond the rule of law

How long can Britain’s biggest arms company run a secret service and trump the armed forces in political influence?

Tuesday February 13, 2007

There is a state within a state in the United Kingdom, a small but untouchable domain that appears to be subject to a different set of laws.

We have heard quite a bit about it over the past two months, but hardly anyone knows just how far its writ runs.

The state is BAE Systems, Britain’s biggest arms company.

It seems, among other advantages, to be able to run its own secret service.

This week, Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) hopes to obtain a court order against BAE.

The order would allow it to discover how the arms company obtained one of its confidential documents.

CAAT instructed its lawyers, Leigh Day & Co, to seek a judicial review of the government’s decision to drop the corruption case against BAE, which is alleged to have paid massive bribes to members of the Saudi royal family.

Leigh Day sent CAAT an email containing advice on costs and tactics. The email ended up in the hands of the arms company.

How? Correspondence between a plaintiff and his lawyers couldn’t be more private.

The last people you would show it to are the defendants in the case. But somehow the letter found its way to BAE’s offices.

More Iraq war profiteers: here.