31/10/05
WEIR GROUP PLC UNDER FIRE AGAIN.

Weir Group PLC is under fire again today, at the same time as it
manoeuvres to avoid prosecution for paying £4.2 million in bribes to
Saddam Hussein’s regime. This time the criticism comes from an unlikely
place – defendants in the dock at Glasgow Sheriff’s Court. The five are
charged with breach of the peace following a peaceful protest at Weir
Group’s Headquarters in July, during the G8 Summit.

The defendants will cite Weir Group’s involvement in oil pumping through
Sudan and Azerbaijan-Turkey, with the upheaval created by those
projects, as grounds for acquittal, also Weir Group’s record
in Iraq before, during, and after the war on Iraq. They will also
highlight what they see as the hypocrisy of the G8 leaders. One of the
defendants Frances Howe said “The consumption and pursuit of oil by the
West is inextricably linked to climate change and to poverty in Africa.
Yet the G8 countries choose not to recognise this, and in fact support
companies like Weir in their own backyard.”

Former Secretary General of NATO Lord Robertson and BBC Governor Sir
Robert Smith are Non-Executive Directors of the Weir Group.

Tragically, people all over Africa and other oil-rich regions continue
to be killed in order to satisfy western oil greed. This November marks
the tenth anniversary of the murder of Ogoni writer and activist Ken
Saro Wiwa with eight others. They were murdered by the Nigerian military
government on behalf of British/ Dutch oil multinational Shell, for
their role in co-ordinating protests against western oil companies
working in their area.

NOTES TO THE EDITOR:
Weir Group PLC has not been held to account for:

• Its work on the Sudanese pipeline, which led to massive human rights
abuses and displacement of peoples in Sudan. It has significantly added
to the current crisis of a mass migration of millions of people finally
returning to one of the poorest regions of Africa with next to nothing.

• Profiteering out of the illegal Iraqi war and occupation through
winning a subcontract through the infamous US corporate pirates
Halliburton and Bechtel as part of the “reconstruction programme”

• Paying bribes to Saddam Hussein's regime in return for lucrative
contracts.

• Its contribution to maintaining the UK's Weapons of Mass Destruction
through its part ownership of DML (Devonport Management Ltd) which
refits and refurbishes Trident submarines as well as consultancy work at
AWE.

• Profiting out of the bombing in Iraq through Weir Services Divisions.

• Winning a contract to help maintain the infamous Baku-Ceyhan Pipeline,
leading to the illegal use of land and human rights abuses as the 1000
mile militarised corridor passes through 7 conflict zones in countries
with poor human rights records.

Contact: Frances or Roz on 07811 600712.