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SFO granted leave to appeal against BAE ruling

24/04/2008

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has today been granted leave to appeal against a ruling that declared it had acted "unlawfully" in halting an investigation into a BAE arms deal.

Previously, the high court had claimed the SFO was wrong to drop the inquiry into a £43 billion arms deal between BAE Systems and Saudi Arabia.

In 2006, the then attorney general Lord Goldsmith announced that the SFO would be suspending the investigation claiming it was causing "serious damage" to UK-Saudi relations and threatened national security.

Today, the SFO were allowed to appeal against a ruling that they had acted unlawfully.

"The administrative court certified that there were points of law of general public importance and granted the Serious Fraud Office leave to appeal to the House of Lords. The SFO will be pursuing this appeal," a statement said.

Campaign groups Coroner House and the Campaign Against Arms Trade originally brought the case to court, claiming the SFO's decision to suspend its inquiry was based solely on concerns regarding diplomatic and trade relations with Saudi Arabia.

Both said today that they remained confident that they would be able to beat the appeal.

Sarah Sexton of The Corner House said: "We remain confident of the strength of our case in the House of Lords. The principle that no one is above the law is fundamental to justice, as the high court has clearly stated.

"It is now essential that the government abandons its draft legislation to give the attorney general the power to cancel a criminal investigation or prosecution by claiming 'national security' with no meaningful parliamentary or judicial oversight."