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British firm accused of bribery payments to Cayman Island Company over Saudi deal

A British firm is accused of bribery over a £2 billion defence deal with Saudi Arabia, the Standard can reveal.

David Cameron has been alerted to claims that the company, which supplies communications equipment to the Saudi national guard, paid £14 million to two offshore bank accounts in the Cayman Islands.

The Serious Fraud Office is investigating claims that the payments, made by GPT Special Project Management, were bribes linked to the lucrative 10-year arms deal, known as the Sangcom Project.

Ian Foxley, who was in charge of the deal at GPT, has written a letter to the Prime Minister and Business Secretary Vince Cable.

A file, obtained by the investigative website Exaro, contains leaked invoices and bank documents that allegedly show payments made by GPT between July 2007 and July 2010 to Simec International, a company in the Cayman Islands, totalling £14.4 million.

In a letter to Downing Street in January Mr Foxley, a former lieutenant-colonel in the Army, wrote: “I am the whistleblower on bribery and corruption being practised by GPT Special Project Management.

“Since declaring the company’s bribery and corrupt practices, I have been dismissed from my appointment with GPT as programme director.”

Mr Foxley submitted the letter to the Government’s Financial Reporting Council, the regulator responsible for promoting corporate governance in the UK.

An MoD spokeswoman said: “We are not going to comment while there is an investigation ongoing.”

A spokesman for EADS — the parent company of GPT — said: “Certain allegations have been made, and these are being properly addressed with our full and constructive engagement.”

For more on this story go to:

www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/uk/whistleblower-accuses-british-firm-of-14m-bribe-over-2billion-saudi-deal-7804050.html

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