An international man of anonymity.

Who is the mystery Londoner who helps move guns to the Islamist-led government of Sudan and invests the regime’s money in Europe? My Sudan feed picked up an odd 2004 story from the London Evening standard citing UN arms data that show the UK exported 180 tons of weapons to Sudan in 2000 and 2001. In a buried lede, we learn this dirty business is likely the work of British arms dealers, not British armories. And then the kicker:

One leading London businessman – whose name is known to the Standard – is accused by many British Sudan experts and academics of being at the heart of the illegal commodities trade to the Khartoum regime. The man, who has lived in north London for many years, has served a succession of governments in Sudan and acts as a conduit for “strategic commodities”, including chemicals and arms, through his substantial shipping business and a German front company. He is also understood to invest some of the regime’s oil revenues in European companies. The man, whose involvement with convicted arms dealers in the Eighties on Sudan’s behalf has been documented, is known to the British authorities but no action has been taken against him.

He is based in a well-known office building in a prestigious part of London and regularly attends seminars and conferences on Sudan, mixing with senior Foreign Office and Department for International Development officials.

So who is this guy? And why not name and confront him? An American outfit would surely name names.

We can guess the answer: Libel. It’s one thing to risk a devastating libel suit when reporting or confecting a starlet’s weight gain or latest dalliance – those reports are circulation builders. It’s quite another thing to lay your cash on the line in the cause of outing an allegedly sanctions-busting arms dealer.