Andrew Feinstein on the Arms Trade and Corruption

Open Society Fellow and former ANC Member of Parliament Andrew Feinstein recently spoke at OSI about his work investigating a corrupt weapons deal involving senior members of the ANC government a decade ago. The episode was a moral turning point for South Africa’s young democracy and led to his resignation from parliament in 2001.

A controversial settlement was reached last month by British and American investigators with BAE systems, the world’s third-largest arms manufacturer. The settlement, which Feinstein calls a “travesty of justice,” effectively concludes years of investigations into allegations that BAE paid massive bribes to officials in Saudi Arabia, Tanzania, South Africa, Romania, the Czech Republic, and elsewhere.

In this clip, he talks about why the arms trade is particularly susceptible to corruption and in turn to the corruption of governments.

For more background information, take a look at Feinstein’s recent op-ed featured in the Guardian.