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Corruption

My Lords, the noble Baroness unfailingly brings to our attention urgent subjects that might otherwise be neglected. The Lib Dems are quite right to be infuriated by this case. I have been trying to think of the equivalent of ““disgusted, Tunbridge Wells”” for the Liberals, but I could only come up with ““outraged, Orpington””. More seriously, this is a matter of widespread public interest, as has been said, and the Official Opposition’s silence has, to some extent, inhibited the parliamentary debate so far, at least in this House until today. It may well be that they support the Government’s line, but we shall hear. There is a lot of moral high ground at stake and the SFO affair is a hurdle that the Government would like to jump quickly as they attempt to ride high in international diplomacy, as they do, before a new Prime Minister comes to power. As many NGOs have recently said, the decision to drop the SFO case has surely undermined DfID’s activities in the developing world. The World Development Movement said that, "““future efforts by the UK to prescribe governance standards for developing countries in receipt of aid and debt relief are likely to be viewed as nothing less than double standards””." Given the impact of corruption on democracy, sustainable development, human rights and poverty, will the noble and learned Lord the Attorney-General at least admit that the UK has lost face at the OECD and that DfID will have a lot of work to do to catch up? I welcome his statement that the UK’s, "““not … entirely comfortable decision … does not mean that we are backing off in any way from our commitment to tackling international corruption””.—[Official Report, 18/1/07; col. 779.]" But does he agree that the UK’s decision violates Article 5 of the OECD convention, which specifically states that the investigation and prosecution of foreign bribery, "““shall not be influenced by considerations of national economic interest””?" With what legal justification have the Government decided not to regard this article as integral to the convention? As Transparency International says, not only does the decision undermine progress made through the OECD anti-bribery convention, but it threatens the implementation of the more recent UN Convention against Corruption, and damages the reputation of the UK as an international anti-corruption champion. Let us not forget that DfID is held in very high esteem by the international aid community. Only last year, on the back of our dual chairmanship of the G8 and the EU in 2005, the UK was praised as, "““a powerful model for development co-operation””," by the OECD’s DAC peer review. Governance and transparency were the major themes of DfID’s White Paper, which we discussed here on 11 January. The Government need no lectures on the close links that exist between the exploitation of minerals as a financial source for the arms trade and conflict financing, especially in the eastern DRC. It is essential that the UK maintains its position on this and on the important Kimberley process. Of course, other SFO investigations have been allowed to continue, such as the BAE contract for an air traffic control system in Tanzania, which has also rightly been under the spotlight because of the huge commissions paid. I do not underestimate the importance of our national strategic interests and the role of intelligence, because I have always believed that the UK has played down the role of significant Arab neighbours both in anti-terrorism and during the Iraq war. Perhaps the Minister could confirm that the US, as our closest ally in the Middle East, is not impressed by the public interest argument that vital intelligence would not be shared if the investigation went ahead. I also know the value of Saudi Arabia to our economic interests and the necessity of preserving our very close relationship. Equally, I am aware of the changes that are occurring in Saudi Arabia, which are often ignored by those who would foist democracy on the Arab world. Many Saudi Arabians today live by international norms and would recognise that huge commissions, such as were paid during the Al Yamamah contracts, have no place in either Islam or Christian philosophy. There is a lot more awareness of these issues in Saudi Arabia than our media, with their irrepressible desire for caricatures and stereotypes, would have us think. However, I support the Liberal Democrats’ call for the release to an appropriate Commons committee of the National Audit Office report on the deal, which would surely help to restore credibility. The SFO is bound to pick up the Al Yamamah case at some stage, and the sooner there is transparency, the better. Everyone knows that there were sweeteners in the defence deals, and both BAE and the Saudi Government must come to terms with the new rules in due course. I recognise the present political reality of the decision but it will not stick. Diplomats and officials must surely work harder with the companies involved in Al Yamamah to ensure that the contract is not seen as so outrageous that it is deemed beyond the pale and cannot bear investigation. As the noble Lord, Lord Brennan, and the noble and learned Lord, Lord Lyell, have said, this is also about the role of the Attorney-General. As I think Lord Denning would have said, no one, be he ne’er so high, has the right to stop justice in its tracks. A Government who have sought to achieve the separation of powers and for whom the independence of the judiciary was a central plank of government policy expressed in the Constitutional Reform Act, should agree with him.