not to be taken forward due to flaws identified in the evidence or the prosecution no longer being in the public interest, the prosecutor will generally offer no evidence and the court will acquit the defendant. In the past, a nolle prosequi was also used to protect a person who was given immunity from prosecution. A nolle prosequi acts as an indefinite adjournment to the case, not an acquittal. While terminating the proceedings, it does not bar the defendant from being indicted again, but there is no known case of this happening in the century before 1957, or since. However, in the Al-Yamamah arms deal, the Director of the Serious Fraud Office was pressured by the Attorney General to terminate an investigation into a claim that BAE Systems had bribed influential persons in Saudi Arabia to secure a profitable defence contract. Although initial pressure from BAE on the grounds of economic damage and the disruption of friendly relations with Saudi Arabia was resisted both by the Director and the Attorney General, further pressure from the Prime Minister, under pressure from the Saudi government which threatened to end co-operation against terrorism, resulted in the Director agreeing to halt the investigation. The Director's decision was challenged by several public interest organisations, and their challenge succeeded in the Divisional Court but failed in the House of Lords on the basis that the Director would have known that the Attorney General could stop any prosecution agreed to by the Director by entering a nolle prosequi, and so his decision not to prosecute was reasonable and lawful. Decision-maker and timing Only the Attorney General can enter a nolle prosequi, acting in the public interest. The Attorney General is not answerable to the courts but to Parliament for how this power is exercised. It can be entered at any stage after an indictment has been signed and before a Crown Court judgment is made. A nolle prosequi will usually be requested from the Attorney General by the defence but an application can also be made by the prosecution. Nolle prosequi in other jurisdictions Canada The equivalent power in Canada is a Crown-directed stay of charges. This causes the prosecution to be suspended for a period of one year before an outright dismissal; in practice stayed prosecutions are almost never recommenced. Ireland The power of entering a nolle prosequi in the Republic of Ireland rests with the