Date:16/06/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/06/16/stories/2007061603271400.htm

International

BAE appoints ethics panel to review business practices

Hasan Suroor

LONDON: BAE Systems, the British arms company embroiled in an alleged bribery scandal, on Friday announced the appointment, of a four-member independent committee of experts to review its business ethics following allegations that it paid secret commissions to win a Ł43-billion defence contract with Saudi Arabia.

The committee, to be chaired by Lord Woolf, former Chief Justice of England and Wales, will review and evaluate the company's policies relating to ethics and business conduct.

In a statement, BAE said the committee would review the company's adherence to "applicable'' anti-corruption legislation and international treaty obligations.

"It will reach a judgement as to how the company's policies and procedures benchmark against industry standards, whether they are sufficiently robust to ensure compliance with its ethical business policies generally and in particular to detect and prevent violations of anti-corruption laws,'' it said.

BAE's chairman Dick Olver described the move as "yet another demonstration that we will take every practical measure to ensure that our policies and procedures, relating to ethics and business conduct, are world class, as is our adherence to them.''

Chief executive Mike Turner said the decision was intended to assure all those who dealt with the company — customers, investors, employees and communities — that its policies relating to ethics and business conduct were subject to "continuous improvement and set the pace for the international defence industry."

Meanwhile, BAE claimed that all payments made in relation to the controversial Al-Yamamah deal were "lawful.'' The Guardian and the BBC disclosed last week that over a period of 10 years up to Ł1 billion were paid to Prince Bandar bin Sultan, a former Saudi Ambassador to America, for his role in negotiating the deal. Prince Bandar has denied receiving any "improper'' payments. The Guardian claimed that the BAE "gave'' Prince Bandar an Airbus as part of the deal.