The BAE bribery scandal grows grubbier by the day.

As the Guardian reports, secret files show that Saudi Arabia's rulers threatened to make it easier for terrorists to pull off another attack on London if the British Government continued with its corruption investigations into their arms deals.

There are also secret files showing that the arms dealer heavied the British Government.

It wrote to the British Attorney General on a "strictly private and confidential" basis telling him to halt the Serious Fraud Office investigation into allegations that the company had bribed Saudi officials to secure the Al Yamamah arms deal. The company said the British Government had to pull the inquiry on diplomatic and commercial grounds. Interestingly, the documents show that the company was hauled over the coals for making the approach with Jonathan Jones, Legal Secretary to the Law Officers writing to BAE's Michael Lester telling him that "it is inappropriate for representations to be made "privately" to the Attorney General: any such representations would need to be treated as having been made formally (or not at all) and would potentially be liable to be disclosed, for example in any proceedings or under the Freedom of Information Act."

Still, the fact the British Government dropped the inquiry shows how gutless it was. No wonder a British judge, Justice Alan Moses, has now accused the Blair government of simply rolling over.

The documents were released as part of a judicial review being brought by Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) and The Corner House, who argue that the decision to drop the investigation was illegal.