WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. officials investigating possible bribes examined, and then returned, electronic equipment carried by two BAE Systems executives when they were served subpoenas last week, a BAE spokesman said on Monday.
By Andrea Shalal-Esa
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. officials investigating possible bribes examined, and then returned, electronic equipment carried by two BAE Systems executives when they were served subpoenas last week, a BAE spokesman said on Monday.
Mike Turner, the chief executive of Britain's biggest military contractor, and Sir Nigel Rudd, a BAE non-executive director, were served subpoenas when they entered the United States, company spokesman Greg Caires said.
The U.S. Justice Department is investigating BAE's compliance with anti-bribery laws when it clinched Britain's biggest arms deal, a series of warplane sales to Saudi Arabia valued at up to $80 billion, in the mid-1980s.
!ADVERTISEMENT!When they served the subpoenas, U.S. officials also examined the laptops and wireless handheld devices of both men, said Caires.
He said the equipment was then returned and the men were allowed to resume their business in the United States.
Caires declined to comment on the substance of the subpoenas and said he did not know how long the men's electronic equipment was taken from them.
The U.S. Justice Department declined comment. In June 2007, BAE said it had been notified that the Justice Department had began investigating BAE's compliance with anti-bribery laws, including dealings with Saudi Arabia.
The U.S. investigation came after the British government's Serious Fraud Office dropped an inquiry into the deal in December 2006. Then-Prime Minister Tony Blair said at the time that the probe threatened national security.
Caires said BAE continued to cooperate with the Justice Department investigation.
BAE has denied making wrongful payments to help secure the arms deal.
Bribery could violate both the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organizations Act if found to have deprived the government of tax revenue.
Meanwhile, a civil lawsuit filed by a U.S.-based BAE shareholder is bogged down on procedural matters, including a dispute over whether any U.S. court has jurisdiction, said Patrick Coughlin, lead attorney for the pension fund run by the Michigan city of Harper Woods, which filed the lawsuit.
The suit charges that past and present BAE board members breached their duties by allegedly allowing more than $2 billion in kickbacks, illegal bribes and other payments to Prince Bandar bin Sultan and others.
Bandar, the former ambassador to the United States who is now the head of Saudi Arabia's national security council, has strongly denied the charges, as has BAE.
BAE has argued that the city's suit should be filed in Britain, where the company is based. The plaintiffs argue the U.S. court has jurisdiction since BAE does half its business in the United States and a U.S. bank was used to channel alleged kickbacks.
(Additional reporting by Jim Wolf; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)
