Two UK men found not guilty over bribes for Saudi military deals

LONDON (Reuters) - The former managing director of an Airbus subsidiary was on Wednesday acquitted by a London court of paying millions of pounds in bribes to senior officials linked to the Saudi Arabian National Guard in order to win valuable contracts.

Jeffrey Cook, who ran GPT Special Project Management, was accused of overseeing corrupt payments to middlemen to obtain lucrative deals between 2007 and 2012.

Cook, 67, stood trial at Southwark Crown Court alongside John Mason, 81. Both men were charged with a single count of corruption for allegedly paying bribes to top Saudi officials.

Cook and Mason both pleaded not guilty and were cleared by a jury, who deliberated for around 30 hours.

Cook was also charged with one count of misconduct in public office between 2006 and 2007, when he worked for Britain's Ministry of Defence (MoD). He was found guilty of that charge.

(Reporting by Sam Tobin, Editing by Kylie MacLellan)