If this is true and that a search conducted by independents found the wreckage in the area where the BEA did not (refused?) search ... BEA will be prosecuted for obstructing the search for truth.
Thus a serious threat to do just that might get things moving again. I would imagine if the AFVV447 released a press statement along the lines of,
"expression of interest are sort from private deep sea salvage companies for the location of a a recently lost commercial aircraft that has been discarded by it's operator and manufacturer"
Should do the trick.
Or perhaps that is indeed the best way to be sure it is found.
Worked here!!!
South African Airways Flight 295
The South Africans searched unsuccessfully with sonar for the wreckage for two months before abandoning the search on 8 January 1988 when the pingers were known to have stopped transmitting. Steadfast Oceaneering, a specialist deep ocean recovery company in the USA, was therefore contracted to find the site and recover the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder. The search area is described as being comparable in size to that of the RMS Titanic, with the water at 5,000 metres (16,000 ft) being considerably deeper. However the wreckage was found within two days of the sonar search of the area commencing.
I would imagine that a BEA don't want that sort of thing said about them. They have had enough time to think up ways of moving the blame from them by now, time to get serious and find the thing.