During the trial that began in May, the Serious Fraud Office alleged that a total of £9.7 million was paid to Prince Miteb bin Abdullah and a group of senior Saudi officials to land contracts for a British subsidiary of European aerospace group Airbus. Geoffrey Cook, 65, and John Mason, 79, denied making corrupt payments to senior Saudis between 2007 and 2012 as an inducement or reward for favoring British firm GPT Special Project Management. Judge Bryan adjourned the trial at Southwark Crown Court in London on Thursday. Subscribe to First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every morning at 7am. BST At the start of the trial in May, Ian Winter, QC for Cook, had told the court that the British government approved payments of up to £60m to a future Saudi king, his son Prince Miteb and other high-ranking officials as part of a huge arms deal and then tried to cover it up. Winter had said some of the payments were made to then-Prince Abdullah, who later became Saudi monarch for a decade. Winter also claimed that internal documents documented that the British government and Abdullah orchestrated “an undisputed fiddle” to hide the payments. When he opened the prosecution in May, Mark Heywood, QC for the SFO, had said that British middlemen had for years regularly paid bribes to “high-level” Saudis through offshore companies and Swiss bank accounts, which amounted to “deep corruption”.
