UK used ‘deniable fiddle’ to hide £60m of payments to Saudis, court told

Payments to a future Saudi king and other officials allegedly approved as part of a huge arms deal

Payments of up to 60m to a future king of Saudi Arabia, his son and other high-ranking officials were approved by the British government as part of a huge arms deal and the UK then sought to conceal them in what it described as a deniable fiddle", a trial has heard.

Opening the defence of one of two men accused of corruption in the arms deal, Ian Winter QC told Southwark crown court that some of the payments were made to the then Prince Abdullah, who later became the Saudi monarch for a decade.