There is no freaking budget… pay me my bribe! How one British defence firm was doing business in Algeria
Ultra Electronics Holdings, a British defence electronics firm, was bidding to get a contract to provide key infrastructure to an Alergian government Ministry. The project was called the PKI Project. The company’s preferred route: bribery of government officials through middlemen.
The Statement of Facts in The Serious Fraud Office’s Deferred Prosecution Agreement with Ultra Electronics gives an extraordinary insight into one company’s lack of scruple.
Ultra Electronics (a British electrronics company acquired by Cobham in July 2022, and itself owned by Advent the private eqity firm) agreed to pay £10m plus costs of £4m to the SFO according to the DPA announced on Friday 1 May 2026.
The Statement of Facts contained in the DPA document demonstrates that the use of fixers and middle men and intermediaries, both companies and individuals, is rampant. Yes it was always thus. There is no effort to disguise the closeness between the British parent company and the fixer and his company.
Read these colourful exchanges between the fixer Adel Khalef and the British company executive contained in the SFO document in relation to a contract the British firm was bidding for in Algeria. The fixer was trying to resist the British firm’s efforts to reduce his ‘cut’. He tells the British executive…
“There is no freaking budget and no freaking winning price. He [sic] winning is me and my people and my influence that brought you the partner…”
On another occasion the fixer tells the British executive, “There is NO budget limit and you are guaranteed to win. Berbar obeys the minister. [T]He minister obeys the prime minister. The prime minister obeys my boss”.
The senior British excutive[i] described only as SE1 [Senior executive 1, the document omits his name] replied that they would try to obtain agreement to pay the intermediaries a $4 million commission.
The fixer was a consultant involved with Algérie Advice Corporation incorporated in Algeria. He was aided by the fixer’s business partner Edwin ‘Ted’ Roberts a British Chartered Accountant and Director of Algerie Advice Limited, a UK company.
The fixer’s message continued, “Ahmed Berber himself that ducking donkey is getting 100 000 from Ted”; “4m are all gone to my boss. Am getting 400 000 not a penny more…”; and “…There is NO budget limit and you are guaranteed to win. Berbar obeys the minister. [T]He minister obeys the prime minister. The prime minister obeys my boss”.
In return for providing the British company with an advance copy of the Request for Proposal, ( a key document necessary to win the bid) he asked for an iPhone, provided by the senior execive.
The fixer says to the British company executive, “My partner colleague says that this guy his [sic] knows at the telecom ministry is kind and amazing. He’s gotten us the RFP [Request for Proposal] attached…He’s asking me for a telephone from Apple to give him as a thank you gift. Can you do it?… Please send it by DHL to thank this man at the ministry. My colleague tells me we will find him later on our side to help while we participate with ultra. He is the commission member of the decision board…”.
The executive thanked him and forwarded the RFP to his colleagues at Ultra. A few days later the fixer reminded the executive to purchase the mobile phone, adding “what he did for you is an exceptional favour against the law…”
The fixer sent a message (quoted in the SFO document) to the excutive which stated, “…we have agreed to meet Ahmed Berbar (iPhone guy) who as you know is the ministry PKI project CEO. Berbar is super extremely close to Ted (the British chartered accountant) and they agreed to meet at a secret moment at the hotel in order to discuss Ahmed Berbar’s cut and commission. (I will pay him myself)…”
The iPhone was evidently just the start of the commissions payable to Berber. [The spelling of Berber’s name varies, between Berber and Berbar.
Despite all the offers of bribes and payments, Ultra Electronics failed to win this contract.
Further revelations will follow on Ultra’s activities in bidding for Omani government contracts using intermediaries and fixers.
[i] This executive was employed full-time by Ultra Electronics Limited (UEL) between July 2005 and April 2019 and [we are told] was contractually obliged to perform services for UEL and accept such duties as were required by the company.
In 2011, SE1 was also appointed as one of UEH’s nominated directors to the board of the joint venture, serving as Managing Director and CEO of the joint venture.