Oct 1 (Reuters) - Britain's Serious Fraud Office (SFO) wants to prosecute Europe's biggest defence contractor, BAE Systems, for corruption and bribery, and lawyers said big fines were possible, though securing a conviction would be difficult.
Here is a timeline of key events in the BAE bribery investigation:
1985 - Britain signs the Al Yamamah oil-for-arms deal with Saudi Arabia, the biggest export contract in British history. It is a government-to-government contract but BAE Systems is prime contractor for the deal, which involves the sale of 120 Tornado aircraft, Hawk trainer jets and other military equipment.
1989 - The Observer newspaper reports that authorities are investigating claims that huge commission payments, alleged to have been made to BAE agents, inflated the export sale price of Tornado fighter bombers under the Al Yamamah deal.
2004 - Britain's Serious Fraud Office (SFO) opens a probe of suspected accounting irregularities related to BAE and the Al Yamamah deal, focusing on the relationship between BAE and two small travel firms which made arrangements for Saudi officials on behalf of BAE.
Nov. 2006 - BAE confirms that the SFO and Ministry of Defence are probing allegations that BAE paid "backhanders" to Tanzania's government for a 28 million pound ($53.64 million) military air traffic control system.
Dec. 2006 - SFO drops the Saudi probe after "representations" from the British government about the need to safeguard national security. The decision followed a Daily Telegraph article, citing unnamed authorative sources, saying Saudi Arabia had given Britain 10 days to halt the SFO inquiry or lose a contract for 72 Eurofighter Typhoon combat jets being jointly developed by BAE Systems.
Jan. 2007 - SFO starts investigating payments made by BAE to a South African defence ministry official Fana Hlongwane, over a 1.5-billion-pound contract won by the arms maker in 1999. Hlongwane was a former special adviser to the then South African defence minister, Joe Modise. The supply of Hawk jets in 1999 was part of a $4.7 billion South African re-armament programme.
Feb. 2007 - Swedish corruption prosecutors contact Saab over its dealings in the Czech Republic with BAE, relating to a tender won by BAE-Saab to sell 24 Gripen jets to the Czech military in 2002.
Feb. 2007 - Britain confirms that it has six corruption probes under way against BAE Systems and says that the SFO is looking into corruption claims against BAE over deals in South Africa, Tanzania, Romania, Chile, the Czech Republic and Qatar.
June 2007 - The U.S. Department of Justice launches an investigation into BAE over the company's compliance with anti-bribery laws, including its dealings with Saudi Arabia.
July 2008 - Britain's highest court rules that the SFO did not break the law when it halted a corruption investigation into arms deals with Saudi Arabia.
-- In April 2008, the High Court criticised the British and Saudi governments and said the SFO had been wrong to capitulate to threats from the Saudi royal family over arms deals with BAE. However the House of Lords upheld an SFO appeal, saying the SFO's director had acted legitimately on fears that national security could be damaged and British lives put at risk by continuing the probe -- rather than commercial concerns.
Sept. 2009 - Media reports early in the month say that BAE Systems has been offered a plea bargain by the SFO in its probe of bribery allegations relating to the sale of equipment to Tanzania, Czech Republic and South Africa.
Oct. 2009 - SFO announces it will seek government consent to prosecute BAE after the long-running probe into arms deals. (Writing by Carl Bagh, Bangalore Editorial Reference Unit; Additional writing and editing by David Cutler)