British businessman Barry George, 61, and his 41-year old Romanian-born wife Georgiana were arrested on Wednesday in London because of having cashed an illegal commission after selling frigates "King Ferdinand" and "Queen Mary" to Romania, The Guardian reports. The two were arrested after the Police searched their house in Chelsea and picked up some documents. George works for BAE Systems, Britain's greatest arms company, and he is involved in the deal over the two frigates sold to Romania. The inquiry by the SFO (Serious Fraud Office) looks into a 'commission' of 7 million pounds (about 10 million Euro) paid by BAE Systems. Sources related to the Ministry of Trade and Industry claim BAE admitted having paid a commission, but wouldn't say to whom. Barry George is said to have got 1% of the contract, whereas the remaining 7% reached unknown people, most likely Romanian politicians. (...) The two ships were sold for 168 million Euro. Several Romanian politicians are suspected of involvement in illegal deal. Adrian Nastase, Gheorghe Matache, an ex state secretary in the Defense Ministry, and Gheorghe Gherghina, representative of the finance Ministry, as well as Aurel Cazacu, formerly a general director of Romtehnica, signed the contracts. The secret services had no clues During negotiations on the frigate deal, military information services watched the operation, but there were no clues on the involvement of Romanian soldiers in illegal operations. The deal progressed at governmental level and BAE Systems, selected for modernizing the two frigates, had all security certificates for operations involving military techniques. According to military sources, if authorities cooperating for inquiry at present ask for more details, the secret services in the Defense Ministry will provide all the information available on Ministry staff who took part in negotiations and signed documents on the two frigates. (...) (Doru DRAGOMIR) Britain asked Romania for assistance British authorities sent the DNA (National Anti-Corruption Department) a solicitation for assistance in the inquiry on the frigate deal. Romanian General Police says in April they received request for international judiciary assistance "including information about some serious frauds committed while Romania was having talks to buy some military ships from Britain." In April 28 the request was sent to the Prosecutor's Office, in keeping with national and international procedures on mutual assistance in criminal matters. The solicitation reached the DNA in May 10, as there were clues pointing to corruption, which was up to the DNA prosecutors to handle. DNA officials confirmed yesterday having received the solicitation and mentioned such assistance "was in progress." (M.V.R.)