Ethical Business; it seems to be all the rage these days. So it was no surprise when BAE publicised their intentions to join the ethical bandwagon signing none other than ex Lord Chief Justice, Lord Woolf, as their paragon of integrity.

Surely the companies’ decision to implement an ethics committee has something to do with the stinging media criticism about BAE rumoured payments of ‘commission’ to a Saudi Prince relating to the multi-million pound Al Yamamah arms deal of the 1980s. This month the BBC’s Panorama Programme uncovered evidence of suspicious payments relating to the deal and suggested that BAE has paid for a private jet for Prince Bandar, the former Saudi ambassador to the United States.

What an ethics committee is doing in an arms company seems to defy logic in every possible way, but companies are now broadening their mind to social and environmental concerns as well as financial returns. At the firm’s annual general meeting, chief executive Mike Turner was certain that BAE sustains ethical responsibility in “all respects of our business”.

It is hard to believe that BAE executives and shareholders are willing to put their company and their jobs on the line for something that could have been easily covered up and forgotten. According to figures released by BAE, ethical inquires have increased from 31 in 2005 to 62 in the UK and Rest of the World. They claim this is a result of ‘the newly introduced online training for all employees which has raised awareness levels of the Helpline’. BAE needs to concede to the fact that any ethical endeavour by them will be taken with a pinch of salt.

BAE Systems plc is ranked 320th in the 2006 Fortune Global 500 and is the world’s fourth largest defence manufacturer supplying the UK government with most of their military products and services.