Rt Hon Tony Blair MP
The Prime Minister
10 Downing Street
London SW1A 2AA

Dear Prime Minister 

We are writing with regard to the recent decision of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) to end its investigation into BAE Systems Plc and the Al Yamamah military contract with the Government of Saudi Arabia. 

The SFO's press release states that the decision was taken "...following representations that have been made both to the Attorney General and the Director of the SFO concerning the need to safeguard national and international security" and that it was "necessary to balance the need to maintain the rule of law against the wider public interest". 

As you are aware, the UK is a signatory to the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions (the OECD Anti-bribery Convention). Article 5 of the OECD Anti-bribery Convention requires that the investigation and prosecution of foreign bribery "...shall not be influenced by considerations of national economic interest" or "the potential effect upon relations with another State...".

The early termination of the investigation for reasons that do not relate to the legal merits of the case sends the message that companies trading with countries that a government claims to be of strategic importance are above the law and can bribe with impunity. This decision risks reversing the progress made in recent years by the 36 signatories to the OECD Anti-bribery Convention to raise standards and level the playing field in international business transactions.

It also threatens the implementation of the more recent United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC), which requires all parties, including the new trading powers of China, India and Russia, to investigate and prosecute companies that pay bribes overseas.

Finally, it is likely to cause irreparable damage to the UK's reputation as an anti-corruption champion on the world stage. At the OECD, for example, it is hard to see how the UK can credibly continue to play its role in the process of peer review, through which parties hold each other to account for their implementation of the Convention. Similarly, future efforts by the UK to prescribe governance standards for developing countries in receipt of aid and debt relief are likely to be viewed as nothing less than double standards.

Given the devastating impacts of corruption on democracy, sustainable development, human rights and poverty, we call upon the UK Government to re-open the investigation of the case.

Yours sincerely,

Cc: 

The Rt Hon Lord Goldsmith, The Attorney General
The Rt Hon Margaret Beckett, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
The Rt Hon Hilary Benn MP, Secretary of State for International Development
Lord Drayson, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State and Minister for Defence Procurement
Robert Wardle, Serious Fraud Office 
Professor Mark Pieth, Chair of the OECD Working Group on Bribery

UNITED KINGDOM
Jessica Woodroffe, Action Aid
Tim Hancock, Amnesty International UK
Olushola Fabiyi, Anti Corruption League
Ian Davis, BASIC 
Lucy Baker, Bretton Woods Project
Chris Bain, CAFOD
Ann Feltham, Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) 
Lochlinn Parker, Campaign against Criminalising Communities (CAMPACC)
Kate Hudson, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
Babatunde Olugboji, Christian Aid
Frank McNally, Columban Faith and Justice
Andy Higginbottom, Colombia Solidarity Campaign
Ralph Ryder, Communities Against Toxics 
Susan Hawley, Corner House
Helena Paul, EcoNexus
Lee Coates, Ecumenical Council for Corporate Responsibility
Ian Neal, Engineers Against Poverty
Chris Cole, Fellowship of Reconciliation (FoR)
Saskia Ozinga, FERN UK
Richard Samuelson, Free West Papua Campaign
Tony Juniper, Friends of the Earth
Duncan McLaren, Friends of the Earth Scotland
David McCoy, Global Health Watch
Alex Yearsley, Global Witness
Liz Davies, Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers
Margaret Gallagher, Harmony House
Camilla Toulmin, IIED (International Institute for Environment and Development) 
Mark Thomas, Isaiah
Trisha Rogers, Jubilee Debt Campaign
Arzu Pesmen, Kurdish Federation UK
Rachel Bernu, Kurdish Human Rights Project (KHRP)
Andrew Simms, New Economics Foundation
Barbara Stocking, Oxfam GB
Roger Moody, Partizans
Pat Gaffney, Pax Christi
Jan Melichar, Peace Pledge Union
Ali Askouri, Piankhi Research Group
Mika Minio-Paluello, PLATFORM
Harry Jonas, Protimos UK 
Elizabeth Allen, Quaker Peace & Social Witness 
Tricia Feeney, RAID
Laurence Whitehead, Red Eurolatinamericano de Gobernabilidad para el Desarrollo
Angie Zelter, Reforest The Earth
Anders Lustgarten, Refugee Project
Stuart Parkinson, Scientists for Global Responsibility (SGR)
Tony Bunyan, Statewatch
Chandrashekhar Krishnan, Transparency International-UK
John Hilary, War on Want
Murray Benham, World Development Movement (WDM)
INTERNATIONAL
Helen Darbishire, Access Info Europe
Magda Stoczkiewicz, CEE Bankwatch Network
Maja Daruwala, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI)
Olivier Hoedeman, Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO)
Lillian Manzella, EarthRights International
Alex Wilks, European Network on Debt and Development (Eurodad)
Shalmali Guttal, Focus on the Global South
Tom Griffiths, Forest Peoples Programme
Paul de Clerck, Friends of the Earth International 
Peter Pennartz, IRENE
Graham Saul, Oil Change International 
Simon Trace, Practical Action
Hani Serag, People's Health Movement
Hans Engelberts, Public Services International (PSI)
David de Beer, Saferworld
John Christensen, Tax Justice Network
Fredrik Galtung, Tiri
Wilbert Van der Zeijden, Transnational Institute (TNI)
David Nussbaum, Transparency International 
Kirstine Drew, UNICORN: A Global Unions Anti-corruption Network
Teresa Perez, World Rainforest Movement (WRM)
ALGERIA
Tchiko Mourad, Syndicat National Autonome des Personnels de L'Adminstration Publique (SNAPAP)
ARGENTINA
David Barnden, Center for Human Rights and Environment (CEDHA)
AUSTRALIA
John Massam, Just World Campaign
AUSTRIA
Nonno Breuss, EcaWatch Austria
BANGLADESH
Manzoor Hasan, Centre for Governance Studies, BRAC University
BELGIUM
Christophe Scheire, Netwerk Vlaanderen vzw
Jan Cappelle, Proyecto Gato
Mich Crols, Vredesactie vzw (Peace action)
BELIZE
Gregory Choc, Sarstoon Temash Institute for Indigenous Management
BULGARIA
Ivaylo Hlebarov, Za Zemiata (For the Earth) 
BURKINO FASO
Moses Kambou, ORCADE
CANADA
Patricia Adams, Probe International
ECUADOR
Carlos Zorrilla, Decoin (Defensa y Conservacion Ecologica de Intag)
FRANCE
Sébastien Godinot, Friends of the Earth France
GEORGIA
Manana Kochladze, Green Alternatives
Londa Esadze, Transnational Crime and Corruption Center (TraCCC) Caucasian Office
GERMANY
Regine Richter, Urgewald
Hans Branscheidt, Mezopotamian Development Society
Heike Drillisch, World Economy, Ecology & Development (WEED)
INDIA
Leo Saldanha, Environment Support Group
Smitu Kothari, Intercultural Resources
Xavier Dias, Jharkhand Mines Area Coordination Committee
Medha Patkar, Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA)
National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM)
Kavaljit Singh, Public Interest Research Centre
INDONESIA
Titi Soentoro, NADI
IRELAND
Conall O'Caoimh, Comhlámh - The Irish Association of Development Workers
IRAQ
Jawad Alhashemy, Iraqi Center for Transparency & Anti-corruption
ISRAEL
Susanne Tam, Transparency International Israel
ITALY
Antonio Tricarico, Campagna per la Riforma della Banca Mondiale (CRBM)
Giulio Marcon, Lunaria
Mariarosa Cutillo, Mani Tese
JORDAN
Basem Sakijha, Jordan Transparency Forum
KENYA
Gladwell Otieno, AfriCOG (African Centre for Open Governance)
LIBERIA
Jonathan Yiah, Sustainable Development Institute
Sarnyenneh Dickson, Center for Transparency and Accountability in Liberia (CENTAL)
MOZAMBIQUE
Marcelo Mosse, Center for Public Integrity
NIGERIA
David Ugolor, African Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ)
IInnocen Adjenughure, Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) Network, Nigeria 
Osita Nnamani Ogbu, Centre for the Advancement of Democracy & the Rule of Law
Taiwo Otitolaye, Community Development and Welfare Agenda 
Bamidele Johnson, Independent Advocacy Project (IAP)
Uche Igwe, Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI)
Tokunbo Mumuni, Socio-Economic Rights & Accountability Project (SERAP)
Lilian Ekeanyanwu, Zero-Corruption Coalition
PARAGUAY
Elías Díaz Peña, Friends of the Earth, Paraguay
PHILIPPINES
Annie Enriquez-Geron, Public Services Labor Independent Confederation (PSLINK)
Helen Mendoza, Soljuspax
PORTUGAL
Renato Roldao, EURONATURA
RUSSIA
Dmitry Lisitsyn, Sakhalin Environment Watch
SOUTH AFRICA
André Standing, Corruption & Governance Programme, Institute for Security Studies (IIS)
Terry Crawford-Browne, Economists Allied for Arms Reduction (ECAAR--South Africa)
Liane Greeffe, Environmental Monitoring Group
Bobby Peek, groundWork
Kabir Bavikatte, Protimos Africa
Colm Allan, Public Service Accountability Monitor (PSAM)
SOUTH KOREA
Sung-Goo Kang, Transparency International Korea (South)
SPAIN
Mónica Vargas, Observatorio de la Deuda en la Globalización
SUDAN
Khair Hasan, International Agency for Development and Repatriation (IADR)
THAILAND
Chris Greacen, Palang Thai
THE NETHERLANDS
Wiert Wiertsema, Both ENDS 
Martin Broek, Campagne tegen Wapenhandel
Monique de Lede, Friends of the Earth Netherlands
Joris Oldenziel, SOMO
USA
Kate Watters, Crude Accountability
Beth Burrows, Edmonds Institute
Aaron Goldzimer, Environmental Defense
Daphne Wysham, Institute for Policy Studies (IPS)
Patrick McCully, International Rivers Network (IRN)
Ambika Chawla, Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center