According to the Financial Times (FT), two top judges “delivered a fierce rebuke to the government for “failing to recognise the rule of law” and allowing a foreign nation to “pervert the course of justice” in a case that triggered global condemnation.” Lord Justice Moses ruled that: “the Serious Fraud Office had illegally allowed threats by Saudi officials to derail the bribery probe, which was scrapped in December 2006” (FT).

The BBC details how Moses told the High Court: "No one, whether within this country or outside, is entitled to interfere with the course of our justice,” adding: "It is the failure of government and the defendant to bear that essential principle in mind that justifies the intervention of this court."

In an interview with Sky News, Lord Goldsmith, who announced in December 2006 that the investigation into the arms company was to be discontinued, accused the judges of “failing to live in the real world and undermining a key legal principle.” He also asserted that: "it was the right decision to take, in the public interest, in order to prevent terrorism."

The Guardian writes that: “His [Lord Goldsmith] intervention follows an indication from Downing Street that Gordon Brown [UK prime minister] is planning a "hands on" operation to ensure that the government faces down any attempt to reopen the inquiry.”

In a press release issued on 24 April, the SFO announced that “the Administrative Court certified that there were points of law of general public importance and granted the Serious Fraud Office leave to appeal to the House of Lords. The SFO will be pursuing this appeal.”

The Economist writes that: “The SFO, anxious not to give the impression that BAE is too big to jail, is examining its dealings in six other countries.”

According to the FT, government ministers “vowed to drive through unprecedented statutory powers to shut down investigations on national security grounds,” just hours after the High Court ruling.

“The Government is bracing itself for further humiliation over its decision to scrap a corruption inquiry into a multibillion pound arms deal between British Aerospace and Saudi Arabia with a powerful international watchdog poised officially to reprimand the UK later this year. It will make Britain just the second country to be reprimanded by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's Anti-Corruption Unit” (Independent).

For its part, BAE said: "The case was between two campaign groups and the director of the SFO. It concerned the legality of a decision made by the director of the SFO…BAE Systems played no part in that decision," reports the BBC.

On 21 April, Richard Alderman replaced Robert Wardle as director of the SFO.