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Britain's arms industry and other companies are to be investigated by the country's lawmakers for allegedly using taxpayer funds to help Zimbabwean dictator Robertt Mugabe buy five Hawk fighter jets and 1030 police Land Rovers which he used to suppress dissent. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the world's biggest defence and oil companies, including BAE Systems and BP, will be asked to account for why hundreds of millions of pounds of government money was used to help Mugabe build up an arsenal. According to The Guardian, an official inquiry into the government Export Credits Guarantee Department's underwriting of the loans will begin to call witnesses next week. The all-party parliamentary group on international corporate responsibility will investigate more than 40 years of the government's involvement in supporting dubious practices overseas. Among the catalogue of ethically questionable deals was 35 million pounds lent to Zimbabwe to buy five Hawk fighter jets from BAE Systems between 1989 and 1992. Mugabe's government deployed the jets in the 1998-2002 war against Congo . A heavily indebted Zimbabwe spent 49 million pounds repaying the cost of the Hawks, according to a response to a freedom of information request from the Jubilee Debt Campaign, accessed by The Guardian.

UK Parliament to probe use of taxpayer funds to help Zimbabwe's Mugabe buy arms