Pressure mounts for fresh Saudi deal probe

London: Opposition lawmakers and anti-arms campaigners stepped up calls on Friday for Britain's anti-fraud agency to reopen a corruption inquiry into a lucrative arms deal between Saudi Arabia and BAE Systems plc, after a court ruled that dropping the probe was illegal.

The High Court ruled Thursday that the 2006 decision of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) to halt the inquiry represented an "abject surrender" to pressure from a foreign government, but did not immediately order the investigation to be reopened.

The SFO has said it is considering "the way forward," amid negotiations with the two anti-arms groups that sought and won the court decision.

Further submissions

If the two sides cannot agree on the next step, the High Court will hear further submissions from them - but not from the government, the Saudis or BAE - in about two weeks.

It could at that point order the SFO to reopen the investigation. However, the agency can also seek to appeal the current judgment to the House of Lords, Britain's highest court of appeal.

Nick Clegg, the leader of the opposition Liberal Democrats, said the investigation must be allowed to continue.

"I think we do want an independent inquiry into the way in which political pressure, inappropriately in my view, was brought to bear on the director of the Serious Fraud Office."

SFO director Robert Wardle announced in July 2006 that the agency had decided to stop the investigation, but it was then Prime Minister Tony Blair who took responsibility.