In September 2009, we published an article headlined: BAE Systems whistleblower accuses Shell & BP of money laundering Al-Yamamah proceeds
Al-Yamamah was the Saudi/UK corruption scandal investigated by the UK Serious Fraud Office until the investigation was stopped in its tracks by the then PM, Tony Blair, a man not known for being incorruptible or honest.
Blair gave in to threats from the repressive Saudi regime. In my lifetime, this was a low point in the UK’s international reputation, along with the Suez fiasco.
The scandal involved bartering oil for arms. The proceeds were laundered through Shell and BP.
Our story came from a Saudi BAE Systems insider. I met the individual several times with an IT colleague of mine, Nick Gill.
The whistleblower said he had already been interviewed in the USA by the US Justice Department, who were conducting their own investigation after the UK investigation was terminated in the dubious and shameful circumstances I have mentioned.
I spoke to a source in Washington who confirmed the basics of the information the BAE whistleblower had supplied to me about his contact with the US authorities.
In our article, we named Prince Turki Bin Nasir as being a key player/beneficiary in the corruption scandal, along with Shell and BP.
Saudi purge may lift lid on Shell’s money-laundering role in £43bn BAE al-Yamamah arms deal
The Times published an article on 11 November 2017, under the headline “Saudi purge may lift lid on £43bn BAE arms deal”
Extract: Britain’s biggest -ever arms deal faces renewed scrutiny after Saudi Arabia placed it at the centre of an urgent criminal investigation as part of the kingdom’s anti-corruption drive. One of the hundreds of princes, ministers and businessmen held in the country’s unprecedented purge of senior figures is Prince Turki bin Nasser, the royal at the centre of the so called al-Yamamah scandal, The Times has been told.
The article includes damning comment from former Shell Chief Economist Sir Vince Cable, currently leader of the UK Liberal Democrat party. He says that it is “an indictment of our foreign policy” that Saudi Arabia was now ahead of Britain in looking at the corruption claims that have swirled round the arms deal for years.
I wonder if he is aware that Shell (and BP) played a money-laundering role in the al-Yamamah oil for arms scandal?
See “Shell Money Laundering for Saudi Arabia“.
As can be seen in that article, I uncovered extensive irrefutable documentary evidence from the UK National Archive proving *the involvement of Shell and BP. Links are provided.
The Times article goes on to claim: “The Saudi decision to investigate the £43billion deal created political pressure last night for Britain to reopen its investigation into al-Yamamah, which was halted in 2006 on the orders of Tony Blair, prime minister at the time.
Lets hope for the sake of Britain’s reputation that this is exactly what happens.
*SCREENSHOT OF ONE LETTER
BAE accused of £100m secret payments to seal South Africa arms deal (*BAE and the MoD were Shell’s partners in the Saudi Arabian Al Yamamah oil-for-arms scandal)
Revelations in BAE Saudi case prompt inquiry call: The Telegraph 12 March 2011
Leaked US diplomatic cable disclosed the full case against BAE Systems, the defence contractor: The Telegraph 12 March 2011
Articles covering Shell (and BP) involvement in Al-Yamamah corruption scandal
Extract from MEED Middle East Economic Digest article published 17 May 2002 under the headline: Al-Yamamah weathers the changes. (BAE). (Al-Yamamah project remains at the heart of the UK trade drive in Saudi Arabia)
The largest contract ever awarded to a British company, the Al-Yamamah project remains at the heart of the UK trade drive in Saudi Arabia, generating a substantial portion of Britain’s export earnings from the largest economy in the Arab world. Although past its peak, Al-Yamamah still generates at least [pounds sterling] 100 million of sales a year. Contract payments are made through an oil barter arrangement involving BP and the Royal Dutch/Shell Group.
http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-25436298_ITM
Extract from The Daily Telegraph published 19 August 2006 under the headline: “BAE lands arms deal for a new generation”
The oil-for-arms basis of the first deals only served to add to the mysterious workings of Al-Yamamah. BAE was “paid” in oil produced by Saudi outside its Opec quota and sold in the market by BP and Shell. The switch from oil to cash as the basis for the third deal has been influenced by a Saudi anti-corruption drive and a recognition that the slush funds associated with other Saudi arms contracts have helped finance terrorism. There is also a recognition that Al-Yamamah – which means The Dove – is hardly appropriate for defence contracts. There is nothing “dovish” about destructive weapons.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/2945759/BAE-lands-arms-deal-for-a-new-generation.html
Extract from The Times article published on 21 February 2007 under the headline: “Al-Yamamah an echo of 1980s sleaze”
“The first two al-Yamamah deals were complicated oil-for-arms arrangements that cost Saudi Arabia a certain number of barrels of oil a day. This oil was transferred to BP and Shell, which in turn paid the value of the oil into an escrow account from which BAE received its money.”
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/article1415469.ece
Extract from The Guardian article published on 7 June 2007 under the headline: The al-Yamamah deal “Al-Yamamah is Britain’s biggest ever arms deal.
The agreement – its name means “the dove” in Arabic – has kept BAE afloat for the last 20 years, bringing around £40bn of revenue.” “Al-Yamamah has been controversial for many reasons. Within weeks of the deal being signed in 1985, allegations of corruption surfaced. Those allegations have never gone away; in December 2006 the government terminated the Serious Fraud Office investigation into claims that BAE had paid massive bribes to Saudi royals.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/jun/07/bae15
Extract from Financial Times article published 8 June 2007 under the headline: “Barter fund used to pay commissions to middlemen”
Al-Yamamah is covered by government-to-government contracts between Saudi Arabia and Britain, which the British government and BAE insist are confidential. At its heart was a barter arrangement under which the Saudis delivered oil to BP and Royal Dutch Shell, which sold it and deposited the proceeds in an escrow account at the Bank of England. Payments from this account required signatures from officials of both Saudi and British governments. From this account, BAE was paid in stages as it completed project milestones. It used some proceeds to pay commissions to middlemen who had helped facilitate the transaction.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/579364ac-155c-11dc-b48a-000b5df10621.html
Executive Intelligence Review: Scandal of the Century Rocks British Crown and the City: June 22, 2007
EXTRACTS
Is it possible to place a cash value on the oil deliveries to BAE Systems? According to sources familiar with the inner workings of al-Yamamah, much of the Saudi oil was sold on the international spot market at market value, through British Petroleum and Royal Dutch Shell. EIR economist John Hoefle has done an in-depth charting of the financial features of the oil transactions, based on BP’s own daily tracking of world oil prices on the open market. Using BP’s average annual cost of a barrel of Saudi crude oil, Hoefle concluded that the total value of the oil sales, based on the value of the dollar at the time of delivery, was $125 billion. In current U.S. dollar terms, that total soars to $160 billion (see accompanying charts).
BAE Systems, a crown jewel in the City of London financial/industrial structure, secured somewhere in the range of $80 billion in net profit from the arrangement—in league with BP and Royal Dutch Shell! Where did that money go, and what kinds of activities were financed with it? The answer to those questions, sources emphasize, holds the key to the power of Anglo-Dutch finance in the world today.
The Saudis have forged a crucial partnership with the Anglo-Dutch financial oligarchy, headquartered in the City of London, and protected by the British Crown. They have, in league with BAE Systems, Royal Dutch Shell, British Petroleum, and other City giants, established a private, offshore, hidden financial concentration that would have made the British East India Company managers of an earlier heyday of the British Empire, drool with envy.
Extract from Financial Times article published 2 July 2007 under the headline: Al-Yamamah deal: the Saudi foreign policy connection
The arrangement, at least initially, involved a special account controlled by the Saudis, at the Bank of England. This would receive funds from the sale of Saudi oil lifted and sold by BP and Royal Dutch Shell, which took a commission. Press reports in 1996 suggested this exact arrangement changed – but over nearly two decades, tens of billions of dollars were directed through it.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c8286b10-2833-11dc-80da-000b5df10621.html
Extracts from The Times article published 11 April 2008 headlined: Margaret Thatcher ‘ordered bugging of prince’
shellplc.website and its sister non-profit websites royaldutchshellplc.com, royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellenergy.website, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, shellnews.net and shell2004.com are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia feature.Al-Yamamah was initially an oil-for-arms trade. BAE supplied Tornados to the Saudis and they transferred oil to Shell and BP. These companies would pay for the oil by moving money into an account held by the Bank of England. The Ministry of Defence then paid BAE from there.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article3724416.ece