Swedish prosecutor to decide soon on Saab probe

...Republic, the prosecutor's office said on Wednesday.

Chief corruption prosecutor Christer van der Kwast is gathering information about how Saab, 20 percent owned by British defence firm BAE Systems , went about winning a deal for the eastern European country to buy 24 fighter jets.

"It is not yet possible to say whether there is any reason to open a preliminary investigation, but a decision ... will be communicated soon," the prosecutor's office said in a statement.

The Czech Republic in 2001 agreed to buy the 24 fighter jets, but later cancelled the deal after resistance that included a lower house parliament vote against a bill to fund the purchase. It instead leased 10 JAS jets from Sweden in 2004.

The Swedish prosecutor's office said it carried out a preliminary investigation in April last year into alleged bribery in connection with the deal, but that the inquiry had ended when no suspect was identified.

The Swedish aerospace and defence firm has denied any wrongdoing and is cooperating with the prosecutor's office. BAE is already under investigation by Britain's Serious Fraud Office (SFO) but also has denied it did anything wrong.

The Swedish prosecutor's office said Saab had expressed willingness to explain its business ties with BAE in connection to JAS Gripen sales in South Africa and the Czech Republic.

The office also said it had been cooperating with the British SFO since the start of February and had familiarised itself with the SFO investigations.

It said that it sought information from Saab and from Swedish public television, SVT, which on Monday night broadcast a documentary on the Czech sale of JAS Gripen.

The programme alleged that middlemen in the deal used a number of means to sell the jets, including bribing politicians.

The prosecutor's office said it been unable to obtain a document SVT used in its report as the broadcaster had cited protection of sources. A source in the report had also declined to give evidence to the prosecutor's office, it added.

[STOCKHOLM/Reuters/Finance.cz]