Was the Serious Fraud Office right to drop the corruption inquiry into the BAE arms deal with Saudi Arabia?

Following the dropping of the corruption inquiry into a BAE arms deal with Saudi Arabia, Mark Pietch of the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) said the organisation would seek an explanation from the government about the decision.Prof Pietch, who heads the bribery working group at the OECD said: "Obviously we want to know from the UK what exactly happened and I don't want to jump to a conclusion at the moment."

Lord Goldsmith told the BBC: "If you are faced with the reality of the situation that there's going to be massive damage - not to jobs - but to national security, our counter-terrorism capabilities, vital interests and against that you have the prospect of a case which is going to go nowhere, then I think the answer is you have to be realistic and bite the bullet."

Former minister for defence procurement, Lord Gilbert said: "It's a very very difficult area, one man's bribe is another man's commission payment. You get this sort of ambiguity in the world of commerce very frequently."

The Campaign Against the Arms Trade believes the government has contravened the OECD convention against bribery and intends to seek a judicial review. The Campaign's Spokesman Simon Hill, said: "We think we have a case because we think the government has broken the law.

Today the Guardian claims that Lord Goldsmith covered up payments from BAE Systems to ex-Saudi ambassador to the US, Prince Bandar bin Sultan.

An investigation by the BBC's Panorama programme will be broadcast on Monday 11 June on BBC One at 2030 BST

Q. Was the Serious Fraud Office right to drop the corruption inquiry into the BAE arms deal with Saudi Arabia?

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