International Military Sales Ltd

Alison Seabeck Excerpts

Tuesday 11th March 2014 Westminster Hall

[Mr Dunne]

My hon. Friend pre-empts the conclusions to my remarks, but I can confirm that we anticipate a resolution being possible, ideally without recourse to the High Court action in June. We would be happy to see the parties engage to reach a settlement on the outstanding issues before it gets to court. We think that can be done irrespective of the sanctions regime. Once a settlement has been reached to agree a final amount, the payment of that amount becomes a matter for the prevailing sanctions regime in place at that time. I agree that those are separate issues, but the ultimate payment cannot be made while the sanctions regime is in place.

I want to mention a couple of other factors that the House needs to be aware of. All the negotiations that have taken place on this matter have been conducted by employees of IMS on a confidential basis, in turn routinely channelled through legal representatives. Also, given the title of this debate, I should like to clarify the relationship between the Ministry of Defence and IMS. IMS is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Ministry of Defence; all but one of its 20 million shares are held by the Secretary of State for Defence and the other single share is held by the Treasury Solicitor. It is governed by the Companies Act, with accounts filed in Companies House. The company formally ceased trading in 2010 and now exists purely to resolve the disputes that I have already touched on.

[Alison Seabeck (Plymouth, Moor View) (Lab)]

rose—

[Nadine Dorries (in the Chair)]

I am sorry, Ms Seabeck, but because you were not here at the beginning of the debate, it is not in order for you to intervene. [Interruption.]