Iraqi supergun affair

The Iraqi supergun affair involved the prosecution of the directors of Ordnance Technologies who were accused of illegally exporting an artillery fuse assembly line to Iraq via Jordan. Some of the military fuses were allegedly to be used in Iraq's nuclear programme.

The four men were advised by their lawyers to plead guilty after the then Home Secretary Kenneth Baker and Trade Secretary Peter Lilley signed PII certificates seeking to withhold official papers relating to the case.

Paul Grecian (from Ordnance Technologies) had been passing information to the British security services about Saddam Hussein's weapons procurement programme, including details of the Iraqi supergun.

His conviction and those of his co-defendants were eventually overturned by the Court of Appeal in 1995. 

See also: the very similar Arms-to-Iraq affair

British companies Walter Somers and Forgemasters were involved in making components for the supergun. Euromac was also prosecuted.

Connected assassinations?

 * Gerald Bull, arms dealer and inventor of the "super gun", was assassinated in Belgium in a 1990 professional hit.
 * A 28-year-old British journalist, Jonathan Moyles, was killed in Santiago, Chile, the day after interviewing arms dealer Carlos Cardoen. Cardoen had been involved in selling Iraq 50 Bell helicopters containing the ultra-sophisticated Helos guidance system, illegally exported from Britain.
 * Andre Cools, former deputy prime minister of Belgium, was murdered in 1991, shortly after being asked to investigate Belgian involvement with Iraqi arms deals.

It has been alleged that the bizarre fetishistic death of former Tory MP Stephen Milligan is also connected. According to some insiders, the MP, who worked for the Defence Ministry, was killed for asking too many questions about arms trade corruption.)