“Convicted corrupt arms dealer BAE Systems has been awarded a new contract with the NZDF showing once again that the military is a pipeline for funneling money into the shadowy world of international weapons trading,” said Valerie Morse spokesperson for Peace Action Wellington.

The NZDF awarded BAE subsidiary Bohemia Interactive Australia a contract to upgrade a training simulator on 21 August 2024.

In 2010, BAE Systems pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the United States by impairing and impeding its lawful functions, to make false statements about its Foreign Corrupt Practices Act compliance, and to violate the Arms Export Control Act and International Traffic in Arms Regulations. It was sentenced to pay a $400 million criminal fine, one of the largest criminal fines in the history of US corruption cases.

The US case relates to the infamous Al Yamamah arms deals between the UK and Saudi Arabia. An investigation by the UK government’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) uncovered bribes, totaling as much as GBP 6 billion paid by BAE Systems to members of the Saudi royal family and others. A key recipient of these payments, including over GBP 1 billion, was Prince Bandar bin Sultan, son of the Saudi Crown Prince. However, the SFO investigation was shut down by the British government in 2006, under heavy pressure from the Saudis.

With the cancellation of the SFO investigation, BAE was subject to no legal consequences in the UK in relation to Al Yamamah, nor was any individual ever prosecuted in the UK, Saudi Arabia, or elsewhere.

Then just last year, India filed a corruption case against Britain's BAE Systems and its partner Rolls Royce for "criminal conspiracy" in the procurement and licensed manufacturing of 123 advanced jet trainers. Once again, the payment of bribes to middlemen who helped them get the contracts by exerting "undue influence" on Indian government officials is at the centre of the allegations.

“Along with all the corrupt deals and tax dodging BAE has been involved in, it is also a top supplier of components for the F-35 fighter jets that have been flattening Gaza for the past ten months. BAE is the prime contractor to build the new nuclear AUKUS class submarines that Australia is buying at an astonishing AUD $368 billion, a deal that has raised significant concerns even among some military analysts in Australia.”

“Arms companies are a scourge on the earth. They exist to find and build new ways to carry out mass murder while funneling profits to the richest people on the planet through shell companies and offshore tax havens. The money going to BAE systems ought to be going to our health system and state housing. At the very least, the New Zealand government should ban the procurement of weapons from criminal organisations like BAE Systems.”

Notes:

For details of the US criminal case and $400 million fine, see the US Department of Justice summary of the case: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/bae-systems-plc-pleads-guilty-and-ordered-pay-400-million-criminal-fine

For details of UK side of the Al Yamamah arms deal, see Tufts University: https://sites.tufts.edu/corruptarmsdeals/the-al-yamamah-arms-deals/

For details about the 2023 Indian case against BAE and Rolls Royce, see Reuters: https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/indias-investigation-agency-files-graft-case-against-bae-systems-rolls-royce-2023-05-29/

For details about the new AUKUS class submarines see https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/uk-to-sign-major-deal-with-bae-for-new-nuclear-submarine-class/

For details about the costs of new Australian nuclear submarines see https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-03-14/aukus-nuclear-submarine-deal-announced/102087614

For details about BAE Systems involvement in the genocide in Gaza, see the BBC: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-67645733

For details about the NZDF contract see The Defence Post: https://www.thedefensepost.com/2024/08/22/new-zealand-virtual-simulator-upgrade/

For details about the training simulator see: https://bisimulations.com/news/blogs/how-vbs4-can-prepare-military-mission-planning-and-rehearsals

© Scoop Media