Vickers director our man in Saudi

Leaked memo tells of secret attempts to 'stifle' dissident

Andrew Green, soon to be posted to Saudi Arabia as British ambassador, is a non-executive director at Vickers, the defence company bidding for a huge tank contract with Riyadh, it emerged yesterday.

The revelation will embarrass the Government in the wake of the expulsion this week of the Saudi dissident Mohammed al- Masari. Vickers admitted on Thursday that it had warned the Government in recent months of a threat to trade with Saudi Arabia posed by Mr Masari, the principal London- based opponent of the Saudi royal family.

A memo by Sir Colin Chandler, chief executive of Vickers, leaked to the Guardian newspaper, says that Mr Green telephoned him with the news that Britain had passed intelligence on the Iraqi leader, Saddam Hussein, to Saudi Arabia to appease its anger at Mr Masari's activities in Britain. This had "earned us many plaudits".

The memo, dated 6 September last year, refers to "direct Saudi intervention'' against the dissident and attempts to "stifle him personally''. Sir Colin reports a conversation with Dick Evans, chief executive of British Aerospace, who told him the CIA and British intelligence were becoming concerned that Mr Masari was stirring up feeling against the Saudi royal family, and against US and British expatriates in the kingdom.

Doug Henderson, Labour's home affairs spokesman, expressed surprise at the ambassador's connection with Vickers. "Few in Parliament realised that civil servants were being seconded to jobs of this sensitive nature. The way in which Mr Masari has been dealt with is questionable - and even more so now we know the links are closer than we suspected. We shall be asking if Mr Green has been involved, and if so whether any pressure has been put on the Home Office."

Mr Green, under-secretary of state for Middle East policy and a former ambassador to Syria, has been a non-executive director of a Vickers subsidiary - Vickers Defence Systems - since April 1994. Vickers is in line for a huge Saudi order for up to 200 Challenger II tanks. The company emphasised that Mr Green was not on the main board. He had joined Vickers unpaid as part of a government scheme to introduce civil servants to business, and would be standing down when he took up his post in Riyadh later this year. "He takes no part in the day-to-day running of any of our businesses," a Vickers spokesman said. "There is no conflict of interest."

Robert Sheldon, Labour chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, criticised the Government for bowing to Saudi pressure and gave a clear signal that his committee would be ready to step in, saying: "It is not just the money side. It is the fact that we can be pressured by another country putting the squeeze on us. Once you start doing that, you are up for grabs."

Alan Williams, a Labour member of the committee, has asked the Comptroller and Auditor General to investigate whether foreign aid money voted by Parliament was being spent properly. Aid to Dominica will rise 300 per cent this year, from pounds 500,000 to pounds 2m.

Mr Masari, leader of the Committee for the Defence of Legitimate Rights (CDLR), and long a thorn in the side of the Saudi royal family, has been given 10 days to lodge an appeal or face expulsion from Britain to Dominica. The tiny island's decision to offer him an alternative place of exile made it legally possible for Britain to take this step.

Michael Howard, the Home Secretary, said yesterday: "If there are two ways in which we can comply with our international obligations [on human rights], one of which damages our national interest and the prospects of jobs in Britain, and one way which doesn't, we are perfectly entitled to choose the way which doesn't damage our interests."

Bowing to pressure, page 9