§ Dr. CableTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether her Department seconded officials to the South African Government in order to assist in the negotiations of the industrial participation agreement between BAE Systems and the South African Government. [115173]
§ Alan JohnsonThe Department has not seconded any DTI officials to the South African Government.
§ Dr. CableTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether commission payments made by British Aerospace in connection with the sale of defence equipment to Qatar were underwritten by the ECGD. [115179]
§ Ms HewittECGD underwrote finance for the supply of goods and related services and did not directly underwrite the payment of commission. ECGD was made aware, however, that, as is not unusual for complex international contracts, in accordance with the terms of the main contract, British Aerospace was obliged to make payments from the contract price to commercial agents for assistance in bidding for and negotiating the contract.
As part of their normal due diligence procedures ECGD underwriters obtained local legal advice that the payment of agents commission was not illegal in Qatar and that the level of payment involved in this case was not out of scale with payments on other defence contracts in the region.