Ex-fraud boss 'surprised' on BAE

Saudi Arabia is said to have threatened to cancel a Eurofighter order

The Serious Fraud Office's former head has said he was surprised by a ruling that it was wrong to drop a corruption probe into defence company BAE Systems.

Speaking to the BBC, Robert Wardle said that after the ruling he had doubts about his decision, but at the time he thought he was acting within the law.

The High Court had earlier ruled it was unlawful to end an investigation into a £43bn BAE arms deal with Saudi Arabia.

The fraud office said the probe would have undermined national security.

BAE has maintained that it acted lawfully.

Surprise and doubts

Speaking to the BBC's Today programme Mr Wardle said he was "surprised" by the High Court's ruling. "The decision I made at the time, I thought I was acting within the law," he explained.

Last week, the SFO was granted leave to appeal to the House of Lords against the ruling.

"I would point out of course that the High Court has recognised that we are dealing with a novel and extremely important constitutional legal point and for that reason has given us leave to appeal to the House of Lords," Mr Wardle said.

"So I think we will have to see what the highest court actually finally says about it before making any further decisions," he added.

Asked if he had ever doubted that he had made the right decision, Mr Wardle said: "Well of course, I now have doubt because the administrative court says, no I got it wrong.

"But, subject to that, I think at the time, I had no doubts that I was doing the right thing."

Fall guy?

Earlier this month, judges said the decision to halt the inquiry represented an "abject surrender" to pressure from a foreign government.

Lord Justice Moses said that the SFO and the government had given in to "blatant threats" that Saudi co-operation in the fight against terror would end unless the probe into corruption was halted.

Asked if he took the decision independently, Mr Wardle said: "Certainly, I made the decision, admittedly based on the representations that had been made...by the Prime Minister to the Attorney.

"I did what I could to discuss it with the Ambassador and I formed the view that I should stop the investigation in the public interest, because of the risk to the national and international security."

Mr Wardle dismissed attempts to characterise him as a fall guy for the government.

"No, not at all. I didn't feel like the fall guy at the time and I certainly don't feel like one now," he said.

'Serious damage'

The High Court case had been brought by Corner House and the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT), who argued that the SFO decision was influenced by government concerns about trade and diplomatic ties with Saudi Arabia.

The CAAT and Corner House has said they are "confident" they would be able to defend against any appeal brought by the SFO.

At the centre of the allegations is the al-Yamamah deal with Saudi Arabia, which was first signed in 1985 but ran into the 1990s.

It involved BAE selling Tornado and Hawk jets, other weapons as well as providing long-running maintenance and training contracts.

BAE was accused of illegal payments to Saudi officials, but the defence company maintains it acted lawfully.

In December 2006, the then Attorney General Lord Goldsmith, announced that the SFO was suspending its inquiry into the deal, saying it would have caused "serious damage" to UK-Saudi relations and, in turn, threatened national security.

Saudi Arabia is also reported to have threatened to cancel last year's £20bn deal to buy 72 Eurofighter Typhoon jets from BAE.