In order to get and keep lucrative contracts, prominent Saudi Arabian officials were paid millions of pounds by the British government over many years, according to the attorneys for a former civil servant who is being charged with corruption on Monday.

Jeffrey Cook, the former managing director of an Airbus subsidiary GPT Special Project Management, is accused of corruption for giving almost 9.7 million pounds ($12.2 million) to middlemen for contracts with the Saudi Arabian National Guard.  

He is being charged with one count of corruption between 2007 and 2012 alongside John Mason, and both defendants deny the claims while Cook's lawyer Tom Allen explains to jurors at Southwark Crown Court that the middlemen were paid from the late 1970s "with the oversight, with the approval (and) with the encouragement of our government".  

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However, Prosecutor Mark Heywood argued last week that both men were at the center of "deep corruption" to cash in bribes from figures such as Prince Miteb bin Abdullah, son of the late King Abdullah.

Allen added on Monday that there was no dispute regarding the 9.7 million pounds being paid, but Cook did not act corruptly, claiming that senior UK politicians and diplomats knew and consented to the nearly 60 million pounds from 1978 - described by a former ambassador to Saudi Arabia as a "deniable fiddle". 

'Never upsetting Saudi Arabia'

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GPT, the only business to provide communications systems to the Saudi Arabian National Guard (SANG) under a contract with Britain's MoD, was the main defendant in the case.

Allen explained to the jury that the main issue in the trial was "who dances – and how – to the Saudi tune", adding: "It is and always has been the (British) government and the MoD and Jeffrey Cook is being hung out to dry whilst the government hides its blushes".

According to the prosecutor, the UK is always careful about never upsetting "the Saudis because there is so much at stake" especially given the bilateral political and diplomatic relationship.  

Today Defence Secretary @BWallaceMP hosted HRH Prince Khalid bin Salman, the Minister for Defence of Saudi Arabia.

Building on the long-standing UK-Saudi relationship, they signed a new defence agreement as part of a shared commitment to security.

➡️ https://t.co/WYyLR1DbOL pic.twitter.com/AAePqdVY3T

— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) December 13, 2022

Allen summarized the Saudi position as being: "If you want to do business with us, the SANG, in our country, then you need to pay."  

On the other hand, the second defendant's lawyer Graham Brodie claimed the UK MoD consented the payments as a result of it being "in the financial interests and, perhaps more importantly to the government, it was in the strategic interests of the UK".  

The trial is expected to end next year. 

It is noteworthy that the openDemocracy news website mentioned in late September last year that since the war on Yemen began in 2015, UK's BAE Systems sold £15bn worth of weapons to Saudi Arabia, including Typhoon and Tornado fighter jets, despite its spokesperson claiming that the company's work for Saudi Arabia "does not involve the company in military operational activity and our people are not involved in the loading of weapons for operational sorties."

It was a pleasure to tour BAE Systems in Warton, UK, during my visit and view the company’s future plans and strategies, their program for future combat air system as well as their modern air systems design and development site. pic.twitter.com/7qR4CW4lLY

— Khalid bin Salman خالد بن سلمان (@kbsalsaud) December 14, 2022

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