Calls for Saudi arms deal inquiry

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The BBC and The Guardian said that more than £1 billion was paid into accounts controlled by the former Saudi ambassador to the US, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, over a period of at least a decade.

The payments were said to have been made by BAE Systems - the UK's biggest arms manufacturer - with the full knowledge of the Ministry of Defence.

Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman Vince Cable said that if ministers in either the present or previous governments were involved there should be a "major parliamentary inquiry".

He called for the reopening of the Serious Fraud Office inquiry into the Al Yamamah deal which was controversially dropped last year after Tony Blair warned that the Saudis could end security co-operation.

"It is one thing for a company to have engaged in alleged corruption overseas. It is another thing if ministers have approved it," Mr Cable said.

According to a BBC Panorama investigation, up to £120 million a year was secretly paid by BAE into two accounts in Washington for a period of more than 10 years.

The payments - made on a quarterly basis - were said to have been written into secret annexes of the Al Yamamah contract for the provision of "support services" and authorised by the MoD.

According to the report, the accounts were a "conduit" to Prince Bandar, who used one of them to run his private jet which clocked up thousands of miles each year.

There was no immediate response from BAE, although the company has always denied any wrongdoing, and Prince Bandar was said by the BBC and The Guardian to have refused to comment.