OneWorld.net (U.S.)

UK Government proposes legislation to make BAE-Saudi corruption judicial review impossible in future

The Corner House and Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) are still awaiting judgment on their landmark judicial review, held on 14-15 February this year in the High Court, of the decision by the Serious Fraud Office to halt its BAE Saudi Arabia corruption investigation.

But already the UK Government has introduced draft primary legislation to Parliament that would in effect prevent such a judicial review in future.

The Government's draft Constitutional Renewal Bill, announced on 25 March 2008, would significantly increase and concentrate the powers that the Executive (the Government) can exercise over the Judiciary (the Courts) and Parliament.

The draft Bill proposes to create a new power for the Attorney General -- the Government's chief legal adviser appointed by the Prime Minister and a member of the Government -- to stop a criminal investigation or prosecution on the grounds of 'national security' without any meaningful explanation or accountability to Parliament, the Courts or international bodies.

Sensitive criminal prosecutions could therefore be halted -- or appear to be halted -- for political reasons. 'National security' could simply be invoked by a politician, the Attorney General, to stop any investigation or prosecution perceived as undesirable.

The Corner House and CAAT have issued a joint press release:

http://www.thecornerhouse.org.uk/pdf/document/PRConsRenBill.pdf

and circulated an analysis by our lawyers:

http://www.thecornerhouse.org.uk/pdf/document/ConstRenBillOECD.pdf.

We are now calling upon the public and parliamentarians to voice their concerns about this draft Constitutional Renewal Bill.

A Joint Committee comprising members of the House of Lords and the House of Commons will 'consider and report' on the draft Constitutional Renewal Bill by 17th July 2008.

The 11 members of the House of Commons proposed for this Committee are:

Alistair Carmichael Geoffrey Cox Michael Jabez Foster Mark Lazarowicz, Martin Linton Ian Lucas Fiona Mactaggart Virendra Sharma Emily Thornberry Andrew Tyrie Sir George Young

For those in the UK, please write to your Member of Parliament. You can follow the links from: 'Who is your MP?': http://www.WriteToThem.com or http://www.upmystreet.com/commons/l/