The government's fraud agency is seeking to prosecute defence manufacturer BAE Systems over corruption claims.

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has asked the Attorney General for permission to pursue the case it has been investigating in relation to contracts BAE won from countries including Tanzania, the Czech Republic, Romania and South Africa.

A statement from the SFO said: "The Serious Fraud Office has announced today that it intends to seek the Attorney General's consent to prosecute BAE Systems for offences relating to overseas corruption and will prepare its papers to be submitted to the Attorney when the SFO considers it is ready to proceed."

The case is seperate from the investigation into the Al-Yamamah deal with Saudi Arabia which was dropped in 2007 on national security grounds, following the intervention of then-prime minister Tony Blair.

In a statement responding to this week's decision to pursue a prosecution, BAE insisted that it had made  "considerable efforts" to resolve "the historial matters under investigation".

The company added: "BAE Systems has at all times acted responsibly in its dealings with the SFO, taking into account the interests of its shareholders and employees and the legal advice it has received.

"If the director of the SFO obtains the consent that he seeks from the Attorney General and proceedings are commenced, the company will deal with any issues raised in those proceedings at the appropriate time and, if necessary, in court."

Former Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell said the SFO's decision would have serious implications for Britain's defence capacity, but also warned that the decision should be "hands-off for No 10 Downing Street".

He said: "The company is the principal contractor in the programmes for the Eurofighter, the aircraft carriers and Joint Strike Fighter which is to go on them, and many other significant procurement projects," he said.

"These developments have a considerable impact on all of these projects", he said, and could give "protective" US politicians an excuse to stop British firms getting contracts on the other side of the Atlantic, he added.