[obviously the Feds would deny that WA is bribing Boeing.........Governments can't bribe by definition]
US accuses British over arms deal bribery bid Rob Evans and Ian Traynor in Prague Thursday June 12, 2003 The Guardian The US has accused Britain's biggest weapons company, BAE Systems, and its British government sponsor of "corrupt practice" over a Czech arms deal, according to documents obtained by the Guardian. The American government made the accusation after receiving reports from the CIA and rival firms. A Guardian investigation in Prague has obtained first-hand evidence confirming bribery attempts on behalf of the BAE deal. The bribery of foreigners is now a criminal offence under British law. However, the Ministry of Defence's permanent secretary, Sir Kevin Tebbit, to whom Washington's accusations were made personally last year, failed to call in the police to investigate the allegations. Instead, Sir Kevin claimed in a letter to the US state department assistant secretary, Anthony Wayne, that the complaint had been investigated and was groundless. The MoD told the Guardian this week that the allegation "has never been substantiated by any evidence whatsoever". In Prague, the allegations are well-documented. The bribery attempts to promote the BAE deal were confirmed by the Czech police, although BAE flatly denies authorising any such attempt. Two senior Czech politicians separately claimed they were offered bribes last summer in an attempt to prevent them voting against the £1bn deal to buy Gripen fighter jets from a BAE-Saab joint venture. Those attempts were directed at opposition politicians, but it is also claimed in Prague that larger sums of money went to people linked to politicians in the governing Social Democrat coalition. "I am convinced that money went to the Social Democrats," a senior Czech government official said. BAE admits that it offered corporate financial favours to the head of a Czech television station which it wanted to support its campaign in 2001. British laws banning corrupt acts abroad only came into force the following year. Prague sources say BAE Systems had a £1.5m annual lobbying budget to influence Czech opinion. Four rival companies, two of them American, pulled out of the bidding in May 2001 in a coordinated protest against what they alleged was a rigged deal in favour of BAE. The disclosure of the US confrontation with Britain is particularly serious because both Tony Blair and the defence secretary, Geoff Hoon, flew to Prague and lobbied the Czechs unsuccessfully on BAE's behalf. The deal is currently shelved. An email obtained under the US Freedom of Information Act in the course of a major Guardian investigation into British arms sales describes the clash in July last year between Sir Kevin and Mr Wayne, a senior state department official in charge of US-foreign business deals. After Mr Wayne made his accusations of bribery, Sir Kevin wrote rejecting them. On September 6, a commerce department official, Thomas Barlow, emailed a colleague, William Denk, telling him of Sir Kevin's "sharp response". The letter expresses surprise at being "confronted... with repeated but unsubstantiated allegations of corrupt practice by BAE Systems in the dealings with the Czech Republic... [and that he] is satisfied that all reasonable steps have been taken to investigate US claims... [and that] unless you have any information to provide in the form of firm evidence, we need to draw a line under this subject". The MoD could not tell the Guardian of any steps Sir Kevin took to investigate the claims. It said: "If anyone believes they have evidence to support this allegation, they should present it to the police. If MoD had received any such evidence we would certainly have reported it to the police. We have not." BAE said: "BAE Systems did not pay bribes in the Czech Republic in order to influence any decisions in Gripen's favour. Nor did BAE Systems ever authorise or direct anyone to pay bribes to that end."
