Ex-BAE agent charged with bribery

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A former Austrian agent for UK defence giant BAE Systems has been charged with corruption and bribery, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has said.

Count Alfons Mensdorff-Pouilly, 56, is accused of bribing government officials in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Austria.

He is due to appear at Highbury Corner Magistrates' Court on Friday.

SFO investigators probed claims large sums were handed over in return for contracts for Gripen fighter jets.

Count Mensdorff-Pouilly, a resident of Luising, Austria, is accused of acting corruptly between 1 January 1 2002 and 31 December 2008.

The SFO said he faced a single charge of conspiracy to corrupt, contrary to section 1 of the Criminal Law Act 1977.

The charge followed a joint investigation by the SFO and Ministry of Defence police.

Prosecutors and police in Vienna were also involved and investigators consulted colleagues in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Switzerland.

They focused on lease agreements made by several countries between 2003 and 2004 and alleged illegal payments of more than £11 million.

Count Mensdorff-Pouilly was arrested in March 2009 following five years of international inquiries.

Speaking last year, his solicitor, Harald Schuster, claimed the accusations were groundless.

Last October the SFO said it would ask the Attorney General to prosecute the firm for offences relating to overseas corruption.

A spokesman said the move followed an inquiry into business activities of BAE Systems in Africa and Eastern Europe.

A separate investigation by the SFO into BAE's arms deals with Saudi Arabia was dropped in 2006 after it was decided that national security was at risk.

The count owns a castle in Scotland and is married to the former Austrian Health Minister Maria Rauch-Kallat.