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West End Extra - By TOM FOOT
Published: 11 May 2007

Protestors outside BAE's headquarters

Campaigners call for inquiry into BAE Saudi
arms deal

BAE’s bosses faced a day of public criticism both inside and outside their annual general meeting in St James’s on Wednesday.
A demonstration outside the meeting at the company’s head office in Carlton Street called for the reopening of a Serious Fraud Office inquiry into BAE’s arms deals with Saudi Arabia.
They staged an image of the law being gagged by BAE Systems and the government.
Campaigners posing as shareholders donned judges’ wigs to show that the British public are ready to judge BAE.
Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) spokesperson Symon Hill said members of the board struggled to cope with a string of probing questions about the deal and the damage to the UK’s international reputation.
He said: “BAE’s influence over ministers has no place in a democracy. Today people from all walks of life have insisted that the government must put public opinion ahead of BAE’s demands. We urge the government to listen to the public outrage and reopen the BAE-Saudi inquiry.”
CAAT has lodged grounds for a judicial review of this decision.

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