When is BAE going to shed this cloak of corruption it's adorned as a result of the Al-Yamamah deal with Saudi-Arabia? It will be a long time indeed before that C-word does not come to mind anytime BAE is mentioned. Some might even argue the company is tainted forever by the affair.
Not that the allegation has stopped BAE holding it's sway on and making tremendous inroads into the markets that matter, uniquely the American and Saudi markets . The manufacturing giant has a new deal known as Al Salaam to supply the Saudis with new 72 Eurofighter jets and just last week received approval from the Committee on foreign Investment in the United States for it's multi billion pound takeover of military ware manufaturer Amor Holdings.
The company has the government to thank for the pragmatic way it handled the investigation into the alleged payments to Prince Bandar bin Sultan to facilitate the Al Yamamah deal. One does not need a crystal ball to know that the investigation left to run its full course would have been gravely damaging to BAE in particular , British businesses and the British government in general.
It is however pertinent to ask at this juncture are there still such payments being made? Are there new safegurads to prevent a re-occurence ? Is the system more transparent now that any such `irregular`movement of funds would be too glaring and exposed for what it is?
Showing posts with label finance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label finance. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Brits Lose £900m
I visited a Property Exhibition at the Novotel in Hammersmith last week. It was a bit muted compared to others i have been before. Seemed Londoners were still recovering from the excesses of the past weeks. All in the spirit of the festive season.
The main revelation is that Spain is no more a viable option for the new investor or bleary eyed retiree looking to cash in on the strength of sterling and relative affordability of properties abroad. Spanish house prices are now neck to neck with what obtains here.Thanks(or no thanks)to the unrelenting invasion of foreign investors in Spanish properties. A considerable number of whom are British.The new states of the EU are the hotspots now.With Bulgaria and the Adriatic states topping the list. Riga has a good ring to it!
There i was lumbered with all sorts of brochures with all sorts of architectural delights. Most were promptly offloaded into the nearest recycle bin.However the Overseas Property TV magazine proved to be a good read. One particular article quoted the currency specialist company HIFX as saying that the big banks charge up to 4% higher than specialised brokers thus emigrating Brits potentiallly lose up to £900m yearly transferring money through them rather than through the
small concerns.
In a mystery shop of high-street banks and currency
dealers,there was a massive £4,932.22 difference between the highest and
the lowest costs when buying 150,000 euros
. The wise thing is to seek sound financial advice from independent brokers before transferring any sizable amount of money abroad.
The main revelation is that Spain is no more a viable option for the new investor or bleary eyed retiree looking to cash in on the strength of sterling and relative affordability of properties abroad. Spanish house prices are now neck to neck with what obtains here.Thanks(or no thanks)to the unrelenting invasion of foreign investors in Spanish properties. A considerable number of whom are British.The new states of the EU are the hotspots now.With Bulgaria and the Adriatic states topping the list. Riga has a good ring to it!
There i was lumbered with all sorts of brochures with all sorts of architectural delights. Most were promptly offloaded into the nearest recycle bin.However the Overseas Property TV magazine proved to be a good read. One particular article quoted the currency specialist company HIFX as saying that the big banks charge up to 4% higher than specialised brokers thus emigrating Brits potentiallly lose up to £900m yearly transferring money through them rather than through the
small concerns.
In a mystery shop of high-street banks and currency
dealers,there was a massive £4,932.22 difference between the highest and
the lowest costs when buying 150,000 euros
. The wise thing is to seek sound financial advice from independent brokers before transferring any sizable amount of money abroad.
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