 BAE sales to Saudi Arabia have totalled billions of pounds |
BAE Systems has denied allegations of wrongdoing made by a newspaper, which said the UK defence giant had made payments to secure business. Ministry of Defence (MoD) police are investigating allegations of bribery of a civil servant and payments to senior Saudi officials, the Guardian said.
BAE said it "rigorously complies with the laws of the UK and of the other countries in which it operates".
The UK firm denied similar allegations made by the Guardian in September.
Documents seized
Without identifying its sources, the newspaper said MoD police had seized from a warehouse 386 boxes of documents listing more than �60m ($106m) of payments made by Farnborough-based BAE.
A spokesman for the MoD police confirmed detectives were investigating allegations of corruption against a retired civil servant.
He added: "It would be inappropriate to discuss any details at this stage."
The Guardian said BAE had been trying to secure a further �1.5bn of contracts with Saudi Arabia, following the sale of �50bn of equipment over the past 15 years.
Shares in BAE Systems fell by four pence, or 1.9%, on the London Stock Exchange, to 205.75 pence.
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