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Rights group flays Lords ruling on Saudi deal
Justice says verdict upholding Fraud Office decision to drop BAE probe is disappointing.
- By Dr Abdul Hadi Al Timimi, Abu Dhabi Editor
- Published: 00:02 July 31, 2008
Dubai One of Britain's leading legal and human rights organisation on Wednesday criticised the House of Lords decision to overturn a High Court judgment that the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) had acted unlawfully by halting an investigation into possible corruption in a UK-Saudi arms deal.
"The law lords have delivered a disappointingly narrow judgment," Eric Metcalfe, Justice director of human rights policy, said in a press statement. "It's a sad day for the rule of law when a senior prosecutor bows to threats from a foreign government and our most senior judges will do nothing to stop it," he said. Justice and other similar British campaigners had won last April a High Court judgment that the SFO director had acted unlawfully. They sought action after the SFO decided to halt probe into allegations of graft worth billions of dollars over the $70-billion deal.
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