GERALD JAM ES Updated to include Scott Report findings 62 In the Public Interest Thatcher"s ViE .....,..... it was for weapons and otller military goods, they dressed up all What then of the economic bo the expenditure to make it seem that Margaret Thatcher's part in supposed to have flowed from these ~ it had to do with building a hospital and a university. Thatcher was certainly aggravated In fact, as J. Martin -Martin has confirmed - he was the first were being outsold everywhere, by the person to finger Mark Thatcher on television and really started the determined to put that right, which sh- whole investigation into his arms 'facilitating' activities - the nub No.4 or 5 in the world she made us "\"v. - of the deal was the building of weapon silos to store American But that this effort benefited the nation is PGMs (precision guided missiles), the result of US strategy in the a single penny has been paid on Thatcher'~ early 1980s, which was to stop a thrust by RUSSiainto the Gulf, age. IMS played a central role in man ..c using Mghanistan as a springboard from which to control the Package of £75m illi 1985-6, but by 19 world oil industry. already defaulted on payments and many oo~ TheA! Yamamah deal is in three parts. Initially 132 Tornado air- deals had to resort to ECGD for settlement. J~~" craft and Blackhawk helicopters were due to Saudi. A!Yamamah IT for hundreds of millions and the debt is being was signed in 1988 but not proceeded with until 1992. More ing fresh credits to pay the interest. Tornado strike aircraft, BAe Hawk trainer jets, Sandown class mine- It is not widely realised that Thatcher's eo hunters and Blackhawk helicopters were to be sold. A! Y I and IT largely a conjuring trick that turned North together were worth some £40bn. A!Y ill, yet to come, is valued at cash dispensed by ECGD to the City (and fat a further £20bn. Part ITcalled for a £1.5bn down payment in cash, arms deals that had essentially failed. In a me the rest in oil, a deal designed by Peter Levene of the MoD calling ment Foreign Mfairs Inquiry into the Malaysian for payment of as much as 500,000 barrels of oil per day, which aid -for-arms affair, Mr KH. Harrison, a former' were then to be traded by Shell and BP. There are various question cal manager in the oil industry (BP), pointed to marks hanging pver A!Yamamah that concern the real destination linking overseas aid to arms deals as but one SIr of the goods, and the commissions allegedly up to £12m to Mark ment that proved necessary, in an economic strat"",- Thatcher and around £240m in total to his group.6 based upon the investment of North Sea oil reYeD: The Indonesian contra~t is going on now. The government sold and the plundering of these to finance Thatcher's yari Indonesia £500m of British Hawk military training jets and God packages when customers didn't pay up. knows how much other military equipment just two months after In 1988' Lord Young boasted to a governme the Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd visited Jakarta to announce Committee that with £120bn of North Sea oil revenu a 'soft loan' for a power station to be built by a British company. overseas, bringing in £5bn dividends, and with City a The pattern had been set in September 1988 by Margaret industries similarly poised to bring in dividends from 0' Thatcher's £1.3bn arms deal with Malaysia, with its 'sweetener' no longer needed the traditional economic base of manl attached - £234m to build a hydro-electric dam at Pergau, again shipbuilding, etc. by British companies such as Trafalgar House/Cementation, who Mr Harrison corresponded with the Treasury on tl were also involved in Oman and a number of other arms-related and was informed in a letter written by Mr David La, deals through Cementation and their South African associate com- Public Sector Finances Division on 14 December 1992 pany Blockberg. Young's boast related to the figures for 1986, 'when thl Thatcher's Militarised LcoIliOlDT 104 In the Public Interest involved in a Public Accounts Comminee irlquiry was to despatch Mark to Dallas, away from the limelight, where ment use of public money in the financing he started work as a car salesman for Lotus Cars and British Car defence packages. It is extraordinary, because auctions, then run by David Wickens,a family friend. Wickenswas astonishing claims have proved increasingly c until 1986 principal shareholder in Attwoods, the waste disposal The document, dated 2 May 1989 and marked " firm where Sir Denis Thatcher was deputy chairman from 1983 42 Restricted', is in the form of a memo to the chairman and which has been rumoured to have Mafia connections. pany whose name has been blacked out, as has the - Tipping meanwhile was set back on his feet in a new career as set out under the headings of Thatcher's three L.::: arms facilitator with the help of powerful people in the Thatcher packages - Jordan, Saudi Arabia [AIYamamah] and inner circle of businessmen and senior Defence Ministry offi- [pergau]. cials, including Colin Chandler, then chief of defence sales at the Inter alia, the memo is concerned with the owl') MoD. There is every reason to believe that the Stephen Tipping! British Aerospace of Tornado fighter-bombers up to 11 Mark Thatcher double act never faltered during the Thatcher more than the going rate to the RAF (in the case of years. Package) and 120 per cent in the case of the Sa In February 1993 in Business Age magazine Kevin Cahill pub- Package. lished an analysis of Mark Thatcher's finances: 'On 14th Commissions reaching 'over 45 per cent' are - . December 1992 Mark Thatcher had 93,142,139 Swiss francs in way to explaining the inflated price, but in the case ~ - 11 bank accounts deposited at 3 different Swiss financial institu- the mark-ups are described, apparently by an UI tions. £41,581,312 in sterling. In addition he has unidentified 'proper profit margins on unprofitable business in the " shareholdings in South Mrica and substantial personal assets The system of payment, however, makes this s worldwide. Estimates of the total value of his fortune vary from unlikely.The Saudis were invoiced by Colin Chandle £50million to £100million, putting him.amongst Britain's super Sales, and Defence Procurement under Peter Le rich and approx 80th richest man in the UK' invoiced by BAe, the principal contractor. If BAe w Tipping has been named as a facilitator in part of the £1.3bn inflated invoicesto Levene, he would know that they w defence deal signed by Margaret Thatcher and Dr Mahathir because the MoD were buying basically the same ai Mohamed, the Malaysian prime minister, in September 1988. He BAefor RAF use. helped to fix the sale oflaser-guided British Starburst anti-aircraft Further, since it is known that the lion's share 0 missiles,worth £70m, to the Malaysian defence ministry, and was , from Saudi are in heavily discounted oil (as much as 5( also involved with a Malaysian company in the supply of parts for rels a day have been flowing into Britain on Al Yal 43 Hawk aircraft from British Aerospace. which must then be traded through Shell and Bp,ther It is further alleged that Mark Thatcher was rewarded with a hidden profit margin, no mention of which has ever 1 commission of some £12m in the biggest deal inspired by his The memo suggests that this profit area from tl mother, the £60bn package destined for Saudi Ar~ia and known arrangement was of particular interest to Margare as AlYamamah.44 'There are constant phone calls between Mrs T anc Although this allegation was made by the Sunday Times in and Sir Peter Levene [MoD] and Prince Sultan.' 1994, it first appeared in an extraordinary document received So commissions of 45 per cent were comiug from anonymously five years earlier by Jeffrey Rooker MP, who was Thatcher's Militarised Economy 105 involved in a Public Accounts Committee inquiry into govern- ment use of public money in the financing of Thatcher's big defence packages. It is extraordinary, because over the years its astonishing claims have proved increasingly correct. The document, dated 2 May 1989 and marked 'Classification: Restricted', is in the form of a memo to the chairman of a com- pany whose name has been blacked out, as has the sender's. It is set out under the headings of Thatcher's three largest defence packages - Jordan, Saudi Arabia [AlYamamah] and Malaysia [pergau]. Inter alia, the memo is concerned with the overpricing by British Aerospace of Tornado fighter-bombers up to 112 per cent more than the going rate to the RAF (in the case of the Jordan Package) and 120 per cent in the case of the Saudi Arabia Package. Commissions reaching 'over 45 per cent' are said to go some way to explaining the inflated price, but in the case ofAIYamamah the mark-ups are described, apparently by an executiveofBAe, as 'proper profit margins on unprofitable business in the past'. The system of payment, however, makes this seem at best unlikely.The Saudis were invoiced by Colin Chandler of Defence Sales, and Defence Procurement under Peter Levene were invoiced by BAe, the principal contractor. If -BAewere iSSUing inflated invoicesto Levene, he would know that they were inflated because the MoD were buying basically the same aircraft from BAefor RAF use.