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40 - EVENTS/INTELLIGENCE_SCANDALS/Scott Inquiry.md
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@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ The Scott Inquiry was a judicial inquiry commissioned by Prime Minister [[John M
### Background: Matrix Churchill and the Prosecution
Matrix Churchill was a Coventry-based machine tools manufacturer that had been acquired by Iraqi interests in 1987 as part of Iraq's covert effort to acquire dual-use manufacturing technology for weapons programs. Matrix Churchill directors, including Paul Henderson, were simultaneously cooperating with British intelligence (MI6) - providing information about Iraqi weapons procurement. When the company was prosecuted in 1992 for exporting equipment in violation of arms export controls, the prosecution proceeded while ministers signed Public Interest Immunity (PII) certificates to suppress government documents that would have disclosed both the intelligence cooperation and the government's knowledge that the export guideline changes had made the exports arguably legal.
Matrix Churchill was a Coventry-based machine tools manufacturer that had been acquired by Iraqi interests in 1987 as part of Iraq's covert effort to acquire dual-use manufacturing technology for weapons programs. Matrix Churchill directors, including [[Paul Henderson]], were simultaneously cooperating with British intelligence (MI6) - providing information about Iraqi weapons procurement. When the company was prosecuted in 1992 for exporting equipment in violation of arms export controls, the prosecution proceeded while ministers signed Public Interest Immunity (PII) certificates to suppress government documents that would have disclosed both the intelligence cooperation and the government's knowledge that the export guideline changes had made the exports arguably legal.
The Matrix Churchill prosecution collapsed when the trial judge allowed the suppressed documents into evidence and cross-examination of ministers revealed the extent of official knowledge. The collapse prompted the Major government to commission the Scott Inquiry.[^2]