Former UK defence secretary denies directing lobbyist to put pressure on top politicians when he worked for arms firm

A former cabinet minister has been accused of directing illegal lobbying in South Korea to secure a large contract for a major arms firm he was working for.



Geoff Hoon, who was a defence secretary in Tony Blair’s administration, was working in a senior post for the AgustaWestland arms firm when he is alleged to have directed the lobbyist.

Unlike Britain, it is illegal in South Korea for firms and individuals to hire lobbyists to influence government officials. Yang Kim, a lobbyist hired by AgustaWestland, was jailed for four years in South Korea after it was revealed that he had been paid more than £1m to help win a helicopter contract.

The allegations against Hoon are being made by a campaign group, Corruption Watch, which has obtained an email it says shows Hoon had urged Kim, a former minister, to exert pressure on high-ranking politicians and officials in South Korea.

In the email, Hoon wrote: “We need you to actively engage in exerting influence over high-ranking decision-makers in Korea.”

Hoon, who denied the accusation, said the email had been quoted out of context. He said the full sequence of emails between Kim and AgustaWestland showed that neither he nor the firm “ever intended that Yang Kim should breach South Korean law”.

He said AgustaWestland had been concerned that Kim was “simply recycling South Korean newspaper and media reports and not proving the critical analysis that he had originally offered”.

Hoon said he had emailed Kim to ask him to “go beyond the passive provision of information and instead to interpret relevant information as if he were still a minister, in order to see what it might mean for the company”.

The accusation against Hoon is contained in a report which is to be published on Wednesday by Corruption Watch as part of a wider investigation into AgustaWestland’s alleged wrongdoing around the world.



It is the second time he has attracted controversy over lobbying issues. In 2010, he was filmed telling an undercover reporter for the Channel 4 Dispatches programme that he wanted to translate his knowledge and contacts “about the international scene into something that bluntly, makes money”. He held several senior posts in Blair’s governments including transport secretary and leader of the Commons.

Hoon apologised after he was suspended as an MP by Labour in 2010, saying that he had not wanted to be a lobbyist but instead had wanted to provide strategic advice to companies.

In the same year, he stood down as Labour MP for Ashfield after 18 years in parliament. He was banned from having a pass for five years that would have entitled him to enter parliament as a former member, after he was deemed to have committed a “particularly serious” breach of the rules by appearing to tell the undercover reporter that he could disclose confidential government information to commercial firms. He complained unsuccessfully to the European court of human rights.

In 2011 he was appointed director of international sales for AgustaWestland, the Anglo-Italian arms firm.

In 2013, the firm landed a £227m contract to sell helicopters to the South Korean military. The firm had hired Kim, a former South Korean minister for veterans’ affairs, two years earlier.

According to the court judgment delivered when Kim was jailed, AgustaWestland paid him to make use of his close connections with high-ranking officials in military circles and influence them to ensure the firm’s helicopters would be selected for a maritime contract.

Corruption Watch alleges that Kim was instructed by senior managers at the firm, including Hoon, citing a series of emails circulating among Kim and AgustaWestland managers.

In an email on 14 September 2012, Hoon told Kim: “The role of a high-ranking figure like you has to be more than providing information in a passive manner. We need you to actively engage in exerting influence over high-ranking decision-makers in Korea.

“In particular we hope that you provide us with practical help regarding the difficulties we are now experiencing with the Defence Acquisition Program Administration.

“Only a high-ranking official like you can address the difficulties on our behalf. I have always assumed from our first meeting that you have the will and ability to provide help of this level and quality.”

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Kim replied that he had been meeting members of the South Korean government. In 2015, he was arrested as part of an official investigation into corruption and jailed the following year.

Hoon said Kim had been hired to give advice on South Korea’s political system. He said that when AgustaWestland became concerned that Kim was simply recycling media reports, he was asked to write to him because of his “previous seniority in a very hierarchical society”, and he may have been offended by an email from a junior member of the firm.

“At no time did I expect Yang Kim to actually meet with senior decision-makers or solicit or lobby on behalf of the company. Indeed my recollection of his consultancy contract required him to comply with all applicable laws,” Hoon added.

Hoon, who left AgustaWestland in 2016, is currently the chairman of Twycross zoo in the East Midlands.

AgustaWestland, now renamed Leonardo, said it had not been charged nor investigated over the matter.

Corruption Watch is calling for the Serious Fraud Office to investigate AgustaWestland’s alleged wrongdoing in a number of countries. Its campaigner, Paul Holden, said: “AgustaWestland and Leonardo have been implicated in corruption scandals around the world for over a decade, yet UK authorities have only seen fit to sit on their hands.”