OWN CORRESPONDENTS, Johannesburg | Monday
A EUROPEAN company involved in a multi-billion rand arms deal with South Africa has acknowledged that it “rendered assistance” to some 30 VIPs to obtain vehicles, local newspapers reported at the weekend.
The disclosure came in a statement from the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS), a joint venture between DaimlerChrysler Aerospace of Germany, the French company Aerospatiale Matra and the Spanish firm Construcciones Aeronauticas.
It followed an announcement last week by Director of Public Prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka, heading one of three probes into charges of corruption surrounding the deal, that his investigations could lead to prosecutions.
“At this stage it looks like there may be some criminal prosecutions,” he said then.
Under the arms deal, worth close to R43bn, the government will acquire fighter jets, submarines, corvettes and helicopters from European firms.
The Sunday Times and Sunday Independent both reported that EADS had issued a statement acknowledging facilitating vehicles for “approximately 30 VIPS (very important persons)” over the past three years.
“The sectors concerned were the civil airlines, defence, electronic and related industries, diplomatic and political officials,” the EADS statement said.
The assistance included price discounts and speeding up delivery ahead of waiting lists, the company said, adding that it was cooperating with the corruption probes now under way. The other two are headed by the auditor general and the public protector.
EADS has a 33% stake in Reutech Radar Systems, based in Stellenbosch, which won a $25m contract to supply missile and radar technology aboard the four corvettes the government has ordered.
EADS said it made a profit on the sale of the vehicles, but did not make it clear if that was on each vehicle or the 30 as a whole.
The disclosure follows hard on the heels of a public row about the acquisition of Mercedes vehicles by Tony Yengeni, parliamentary chief whip for the ruling African National Congress, and his wife Lumka.
Ngcuka acknowledged that his team was probing allegations that Yengeni had received a bribe in the form of a luxury Mercedes four-wheel drive vehicle.
The Sunday Time reported that Yengeni’s vehicle was formerly registered as a “private staff vehicle” for DaimlerChrysler Aerospace, now incorporated in EADS, and that his wife’s Mercedes C180 had also been identified as a staff car.
Parliament called for the probes after Auditor General Shauket Fakie expressed concerns about the tender process and after many allegations of corruption surrounding the awarding of the contracts.
Investigators have requested bank account records of 24 individuals, accounts and statutory records of 68 “entities” and the records belonging to three auditing firms, Ngcuka said. – AFP
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