New bribery claims in arms deal
Adriaan Basson and Carien du Plessis , Beeld
Cape Town - New claims regarding kickbacks have surfaced in South Africa's multibillion-dollar arms transaction with the announcement that Germany is investigating the corvette deal.
The leader of the Independent Democrats, Patricia de Lille, a fierce critic of the arms transaction, showed documents on Sunday, confirming the German prosecuting authority in Dusseldorf is investigating allegations of corruption and that they already have searched the offices of the industrial conglomerate ThyssenKrupp.
ThyssenKrupp is the main member of the German frigate consortium, GFC, which was awarded a R6.87bn deal in 1998 to provide four new corvettes to the navy.
The corruption investigation came to light when the German news agency, Deutsche Presse Agentur (dpa), announced the magazine Der Spiegel was to publish disclosures on Monday of alleged irregularities in the awarding of the corvette tender to GFC.
Bribery of about R137m apparently was involved.
Wanted to see 'De Lille' dossier
De Lille said she was contacted by a German journalist six months ago.
He wanted to have a look at the "De Lille" dossier of bribery allegations regarding the arms transaction.
The dossier apparently was compiled by worried African National Congress MPs and caused a furore when De Lille announced its existence in parliament in 1999.
De Lille criticised the South African government on Sunday for failing to investigate the arms deal properly and thoroughly.
"When I initially said the tender process for the corvettes was shrouded in mystery, the South African government said I didn't understand the process.
"The German government has now launched an investigation," she said.
De Lille praised the media for the work that had led to an investigation by the German prosecuting authority.
She said it was sad that South Africa had not investigated the allegations contained in her dossier.
She asked in 2003 why the German tender for the corvettes was placed on the short-list of Project Citron (new corvettes for the fleet) after it wasn't included in the 1995 short-list.
No comment from Mbeki camp
According to the "De Lille" dossier, GFC was placed on the short-list again after President Thabo Mbeki visited Germany as deputy president in 1995.
Mukoni Ratshitanga, Mbeki's spokesperson, said on Sunday he couldn't comment about this.
The Democratic Alliance's spokesman on public accounts, Eddie Trent, said the South African government must watch the German investigation carefully and take steps against any offenders if the investigation turned up any irregularities.
News source: www.news24.co.za
Posted by: www.SouthAfrica-CarHire.com
