The British army suppressed a dossier that raised questions over a major Israeli defence company’s bid for a £2 billion ($2.6 billion) contract to overhaul military training, an incident that has fuelled corruption concerns.
An investigation into a whistleblower’s file that accused Elbit Systems UK, a subsidiary of Israel’s largest defence company, of breaching business appointment protocols was delayed for seven months, The Times reported.
The UK Ministry of Defence has been forced to admit it failed to look at the dossier about Elbit’s bid for the £2 billion deal following a freedom of information request from the newspaper.
The dossier was given to the ministry in February and the information disclosure request was made in August. But the ministry only responded last week, blaming the delay on “administrative oversight”.
A senior civil servant did conduct an “assurance review” in September but found no business appointment rules were breached and Elbit is continuing the process alongside American bidder Raytheon.
The dossier alleged that business appointment rules had been broken in a meeting hosted by the company. The whistleblower claims a former senior army officer provided information to the Israeli company even though he had only recently retired from service. In an alleged video recording of the talks, the officer was out of view but a voice was heard stating he “should not be there”.
It was also reported that a senior civil servant examining the bids was taken out to dinner by Elbit Systems UK on seven occasions, but there were no similar interactions with Raytheon.
The man, referred to as the “senior responsible owner” for the Collective Training Transformation Programme (CTTP), was also given a sightseeing tour of Jerusalem by the Israeli parent company, Elbit Systems. However, it is understood this did not breach ministry rules.
The ministry said it did “not hold any findings on an investigation” into whether Elbit breached its rules. “The procurement of the CTTP remains ongoing,” an army spokesman told The National. “It would be inappropriate to comment on any speculation regarding potential outcomes.”
It emerged this week that Elbit had been suspended by Nato from bidding for new tenders amid a wide-ranging corruption investigation involving at least three current or former staff members. Defence companies are alleged to have paid millions of euros to help secure contracts after the company sold at least €50 million ($58.2 million) in ammunition to Nato in recent years.
Elbit is not under investigation itself, but an arrest warrant has been issued for one of its consultants, Eliau Eluasvili, over allegations he bribed staff at Nato’s Support and Procurement Agency.
