Eddie Koch
ARMSCOR officials involved in the arms-for-Yemen scandal are offering British defence experts massive fees to give evidence on behalf of the armaments corporation at a Cameron Commission inquiry into South Africa’s arms trade policy.
An Armscor team has just returned from an all-expenses- paid trip to England during which a number of prominent academics were offered fees ranging from R36 000 to R50 000 to prepare papers for a forthcoming hearing of the Cameron Commission.
Head of the delegation was Peet Smith, head of Armscor’s weapons export control department. Smith has already spent many hours in the witness box at the commission as it was his department that gave final approval to the deal that led to a huge consignment of AK-47 rifles being illegally shipped to Yemen last
Armscor representative Krish Naidoo said there was nothing irregular about the trip as all parties involved in the Cameron inquiry were using expert witnesses to bolster their submissions. The fees being offered, he said, were equivalent to charges made by senior advocates for their work at the commission.
But a number of British academics have expressed disquiet about the way they were approached and have withdrawn after initially expressing an interest in working for Armscor. One of the consultants which has withdrawn is a group called Deltac, which is working with a non-governmental organisation called Save the World to develop a responsible code of conduct for international weapons trade.
“They were upfront about the purpose of their visit, that they were here to invite British academics to make submissions on their behalf to the Cameron Commission. But a number of them (academics) were wary because they felt that essentially Armscor was offering lucrative fees essentially to create legitimacy for themselves,” said a source.
“It appears Armscor has been diligent in attempting to co-opt people who may not have been aware of the controversy that led to the Cameron Commission being appointed … They approached a number of mainstream academics close to the military establishment here who could have inadvertently ended up giving credibility to
Apparently some academics have questioned whether it was appropriate for Smith to be recruiting overseas expertise, given his department’s involvement in the Yemen scandal.
Naidoo said Smith was still employed by Armscor as a consultant and it was normal for him to be visiting overseas academics as his unit was responsible for implementing weapons export regulations.
The Cameron Commission is holding a public hearing at the end of the month in Cape Town where it will look into South Africa’s current arms trade policy and how decisions are made with regard to weapons exports. Evidence heard at this sitting of the commission will be used by a Cabinet committee that has been appointed to formulate a new arms trade policy.
Although the commission’s brief is to examine policy and procedures in place at the time of the arms-to- Yemen shipment, the hearing will have an impact on the drafting of a new ethical code for weapons exports. “The commission will therefore undertake its policy inquiry in a participatory and open manner,” says an official press release.