There were fears the Eurofighter deal could be lost
Saudi Arabia has said it will start taking deliveries of 72
Eurofighter jets from UK defence company BAE Systems "very
soon".
The comments come a month after the Serious Fraud Office
controversially dropped an investigation into a 1980s BAE Systems
deal with Saudi Arabia.
It was reported that the Saudis had threatened to cancel the
Eurofighter deal unless the probe was halted.
The UK government said the inquiry was dropped for national
security reasons.
Yet critics attacked the move, saying the government had put
commercial interest before ethics and had given in to Saudi
blackmail.
'Slush funds'
BAE's 1980s Al Yamamah contract with Saudi Arabia - thought to have
been worth £40bn ($77bn) to the firm - involved Tornado and Hawk
jets and a major airbase construction programme.
The Serious Fraud Office's probe centred on accusations that the
company had used slush funds to sweeten the deal, something BAE
strongly denied.
The Saudi's latest comments, the first since the Serious Fraud
Office dropped its probe, were made by Prince Sultan bin Abdul, the
country's defence minister.
Quoted by the official Saudi news agency, he said the 72
Eurofighter planes "will be sent to the kingdom very soon at
specific dates". The Eurofighter deal, which was negotiated between
the UK Ministry of Defence and the Saudi government, is worth an
estimated £10bn to BAE. A separate Serious Fraud Office
investigation is continuing into a 1999 contract between BAE and
the South African government.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6238633.stm
