C’est Lord Woolf qui va s’occuper de BAE, — mais pas comme on l’attendait

Nous avons évoqué dans notre “F&C” d’hier l’initiative de BAE de nommer une personnalité “indépendante”, à la tête d’une commission qui devrait évaluer la situation éthique de ce même BAE. Notre appréciation était, pour le moins, sarcastiquement sceptique. Il semble que nous n’ayons pas eu tout à fait raison.

Il est vrai que deux textes de l’Independent éclairent les conditions de cette initiative, qui la rendent très différente de la référence qui était citée (l’action de BP aux USA, l’année dernière). Jeremy Warner écrit ainsi :

«What's more, the nature of the appointment has been quite widely misreported by the British media. Lord Woolf's purpose is not to investigate the ins and outs of Al-Yamamah, but rather to vet procedures and practices for future and ongoing contracts.

»Perhaps naively, the company takes the view that the corruption charges associated with Al-Yamamah are water under the bridge, and that it could not in any case rake over the past even if it wanted to because of continued duties of confidentiality under the contract.

»Lord Woolf's function will therefore not at all mirror what the former US Secretary of State James Baker did for BP in investigating the Texas City oil refinery blast. The Baker inquiry was an attempt to find out what happened, clear the air and apportion blame. BAE has taken the view that this is simply not possible with Al-Yamamah. Instead, the intention is to reassure that from here on in the company is whiter than white.»

Un autre article d’analyse générale, dans le même journal, confirme cette analyse en émettant des doutes (le titre est explicite : «Mission impossible for legal top gun?») sur la possibilité que cette enquête freine l’actuelle crise de BAE : «The committee seems unlikely to appease BAE's harshest critics. Analysts made comparisons yesterday with an independent review of health and safety set up last year by the oil company BP, following an explosion at one of its refineries in Texas City. But crucially, unlike the BP inquiry, BAE's committee will have no remit to investigate what has gone on at the company in the past. Lord Woolf will not be employed to study the Al Yamamah arms deal BAE signed in the 1980s, or any of the allegations about payments that the company has subsequently made to the Saudi royal family.»

BAE semble devoir nommer pour cette tâche Lord Woolf, l’ancien Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, personnage implicitement décrit comme “au-dessus de tout soupçon”. Rien à voir avec James Baker, qui s’était occupé de BP aux USA il y a un an. Qui plus est, la décision semble avoir été précipitée à cause de la récente relance du scandale, alors qu’elle était envisagée depuis plusieurs mois. C’est la plus sûre indication de l’état d’esprit de grande inquiétude, voire de panique, de BAE. C’est ce qu’explique Jeremy Warner :

«British Aerospace didn't want it to come out this way. As it is, the likely appointment of Lord Woolf, the former Lord Chief Justice, to head a new ethics committee overseeing the company's procedures and practices looks like a panic reaction to new revelations over BAE's £40bn Al-Yamamah arms contract.

»In fact, the appointment has been in the planning for months, and is more a response to the company's ambitions in the US, where such committees are standard practice among defence contractors, than the corruption allegations associated with BAE's 20-year-old contract with Saudi Arabia.»

Mis en ligne le 12 juin 2007 à 07H59