Court: British arms inquiry ended wrongly

LONDON, April 10 (UPI) -- A British court Thursday ruled the government bowed to foreign threats in abandoning an investigation into arms deals between BAE Systems and Saudi Arabia.

The High Court's ruling puts pressure on ministers to reopen the bribery investigation into BAE's $85 billion "al-Yamamah" arms program with the Saudi government in December 2006, The Financial Times reported Thursday.

Then-Attorney General Lord Peter Goldsmith said the investigation threatened to jeopardize national security by seriously damaging British-Saudi relations. But two groups challenged the decision at the High Court, alleging commercial, not security, concerns were the basis of the government's decision.

Two senior judges said both the government and the director of the Serious Fraud Office "failed to recognize the rule of law" in ending the investigation after Saudi officials threatened to withdraw trade and security cooperation.

"No one, whether within this country or outside, is entitled to interfere with the course of our justice," the court said. "We intervene in fulfillment of our responsibility to protect the independence of the director and of our criminal justice system from threat."