JUSTICE submission to House of Lords

This is a submission to the House of Lords in response to an appeal by the Director of the Serious Fraud Office from the independent human rights and law reform organisation, JUSTICE, which is the British section of the International Commission of Jurists. The submission addresses the domestic legal principles by which the legality of a prosecutor's decision to halt a criminal investigation in response to a threat should be assessed, and the relevant international obligations at issue, the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention.

On 7-8 July, five Law Lords of the House of Lords heard an appeal by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) against a High Court ruling on 10 April 2008 that the SFO acted unlawfully in December 2006 when it stopped its investigation into alleged corruption by BAE Systems in recent arms deals with Saudi Arabia.

The ruling was a result of a judicial review brought by The Corner House and Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) that was held on 14th-15th February 2008 at the High Court before Lord Justice Moses and Mr Justice Sullivan.

The independent human rights and law reform organisation, JUSTICE, which is the British section of the International Commission of Jurists, was given permission to intervene in the Appeal in writing and submitted this printed case. It focuses upon the

"paramount importance of the rule of law in the exercise of prosecutorial discretion (specifically to halt a criminal investigation in response to a threat) and the proper weight to be given to the UK's obligations under international law in that context".

It addresses the domestic legal principles by which the legality of a prosecutor's decision should be assessed, and the relevant international obligations at issue, the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention.

It concludes that "domestic legal principles" is a correct but too parochial description:

"The correct resolution of the present dispute and the proper role for the rule of law therein are questions of general principle that are likely to reverberate throughout the common law legal systems."

In relation to the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention, the submission contents that as the international treaty has been given effect in domestic statutory law, it can be both interpreted and applied by the domestic courts, particularly when the decision-maker (the SFO Director) states that he has voluntarily directed himself in accordance with it.