§ Lord Alton of Liverpoolasked Her Majesty's Government:
What information they have concerning the recently reported sale of arms by a British businessman to Sudan; and what action they are taking to enforce European Union and British sanction policies in regard to the sale of arms to Sudan. [HL4414]
§ Baroness CrawleySince the report concerning the alleged activities of a British businessman with regard to the sale of arms to Sudan came to light, inquiries have been under way to see if there is sufficient information for UK authorities to commence a criminal investigation. For legal reasons, I am unable to comment further on the nature and extent of these inquiries. I am therefore withholding this information under Exemption 4 (b) of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information. It is worth noting that the report related to alleged negotiations. While such activity might itself be licensable and provided no evidence that any military goods have in fact been supplied.
The UK enforces rigorously the EU arms embargo against Sudan. This is done by the scrupulous consideration of export licence applications, the investigation of alleged breaches and through dialogue with other states. Furthermore, on 3 March 2004 the 200WA controls on trade to embargoed destinations came into force under the Export Control Act 2002. Since then any person in the UK or any UK person overseas wishing to seek to trade in controlled goods to Sudan would first need to apply for a trade control licence from the UK. These controls have full extraterritorial reach. Seeking to trade in controlled goods to Sudan without first obtaining a licence would constitute an offence and the broker would be liable to prosecution. The Government would only issue licences for supply of or trade in controlled goods to Sudan in line with exemptions to the embargo.