THE British government has been referred to the European Commission over its decision to abandon a fraud investigation into BAE Systems arms deals with Saudi Arabia.
If the Commission finds that its rules have been broken, the government could face a potentially unlimited fine in the European Court of Justice.
The move came after Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy told Liberal Democrat MEP Chris Davies that failure by an EU state to take action to ensure contracts are fairly won would constitute "a serious infringement of the EC rules".
Prime Minister Tony Blair said that the decision to halt the Serious Fraud Office inquiry was taken in December in order to avoid damage to national security. (We all know what that really means!)
He said that thousands of jobs at BAE were also under threat, although he insisted that this was not the reason the probe into allegations of a slush fund for payments to members of the Saudi royal family was scrapped.
The Liberal Democrats yesterday said that they would ask the European Commission to determine whether the decision breached EU competition rules.
The party's Treasury spokesman, Vince Cable, said: "On the face of it the British government may well be in breach of European competition rules. It is a fundamental principle of our membership of the EU that we compete fairly.
"If it could be shown that the British government's inaction in this area and the dropping of the SFO investigation gave BAE an unfair advantage then this would constitute a serious breach of the law."
Davies submitted a written question to the EC asking whether member states are allowed to sanction 'even by way of non-action' the payment of bribes by companies within their territory.
In his reply on February 8, McCreevy responded: "As a matter of general policy, the Commission does not consider it appropriate for money or any other incentives to be used to procure corrupt action.
"In the field of public procurement, the EC rules provide that procedures for the award of public contracts must ensure compliance with the fundamental principles of transparency, non-discrimination and equal treatment and must therefore guarantee that tenders are assessed under conditions of effective competition."
Davies said: "Tony Blair has made Britain look cheap and shabby in the eyes of our European partners. By halting a major corruption inquiry he has turned us into a banana republic, robbing us of any moral authority."
Britain should not be selling arms to a country with a questionable human rights record. The hypocrisy of it!
Despite the fact that Blair is a puppet, he is still evil.
If the Commission finds that its rules have been broken, the government could face a potentially unlimited fine in the European Court of Justice.
The move came after Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy told Liberal Democrat MEP Chris Davies that failure by an EU state to take action to ensure contracts are fairly won would constitute "a serious infringement of the EC rules".
Prime Minister Tony Blair said that the decision to halt the Serious Fraud Office inquiry was taken in December in order to avoid damage to national security. (We all know what that really means!)
He said that thousands of jobs at BAE were also under threat, although he insisted that this was not the reason the probe into allegations of a slush fund for payments to members of the Saudi royal family was scrapped.
The Liberal Democrats yesterday said that they would ask the European Commission to determine whether the decision breached EU competition rules.
The party's Treasury spokesman, Vince Cable, said: "On the face of it the British government may well be in breach of European competition rules. It is a fundamental principle of our membership of the EU that we compete fairly.
"If it could be shown that the British government's inaction in this area and the dropping of the SFO investigation gave BAE an unfair advantage then this would constitute a serious breach of the law."
Davies submitted a written question to the EC asking whether member states are allowed to sanction 'even by way of non-action' the payment of bribes by companies within their territory.
In his reply on February 8, McCreevy responded: "As a matter of general policy, the Commission does not consider it appropriate for money or any other incentives to be used to procure corrupt action.
"In the field of public procurement, the EC rules provide that procedures for the award of public contracts must ensure compliance with the fundamental principles of transparency, non-discrimination and equal treatment and must therefore guarantee that tenders are assessed under conditions of effective competition."
Davies said: "Tony Blair has made Britain look cheap and shabby in the eyes of our European partners. By halting a major corruption inquiry he has turned us into a banana republic, robbing us of any moral authority."
Britain should not be selling arms to a country with a questionable human rights record. The hypocrisy of it!
Despite the fact that Blair is a puppet, he is still evil.
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