Stefaans Brmmer and Mungo Soggot
A Johannesburg-based German businessman recently named in the British press and in local intelligence reports as an arms dealer with pariah states says he is the victim of a plot by old-guard intelligence operatives.
Rudolph Heinrich Wollenhaupt says that for several years he has been the target of an orchestrated campaign by members of the intelligence community who, he says, have gunned for him because of the threat he represents to their business interests.
Wollenhaupt, who came to South Africa in 1994, says that the campaign began after he started trading in Africa in aircraft and transport equipment – but, he says, never arms.
He says he became involved in a company that had links to private mercenary group Executive Outcomes. He claims the company was later falsely framed by his enemies in the intelligence establishment to have participated in arms deals.
He says phoney intelligence reports were drafted on him to bolster efforts to have his work permit revoked. He is currently involved in litigation against the minister of home affairs. In other litigation with his former girlfriend, she testified that several intelligence agencies were targeting Wollenhaupt.
According to the court record, the girlfriend, Sharon Killeen, said: “They approached me a long time ago and asked for my co-operation. I have been co-operating with them.”
Last Sunday, the London Observer, the Mail & Guardian’s sister newspaper, reported that British bank Barclays had been involved in arms deals between Wollenhaupt and the former president of Congo-Brazzaville, Pascal Lissouba.
The Observer reported that British politicians had called on their government to close loopholes that allowed arms brokers to operate via the Channel Islands, offshore financial shelters off the British coast.
The Observer quoted a South African intelligence report, apparently drafted in November, which is in the possession of the M&G. Wollenhaupt claims the report is a fraud. It says Wollenhaupt is using Africa “as a dumping site for arms, enhancing the destabilisation of a turbulent region for personal profit”.
It claims Wollenhaupt’s illegal weapons deals are run by a man with links to South African military intelligence. It lists the countries with which Wollenhaupt is alleged to have traded arms – including Rwanda and Zambia – but does not cite specific transactions.
The report says: “There are many grounds for concern regarding the activities of Wollenhaupt. There are allegations of bribery of senior government officials and heads of state within Southern Africa.
“Wollenhaupt is also very good friends with Kaire Mbuende, the former secretary general of the Southern African Development Community axed in September. Mbuende has allegedly used his powers to secure residence permits and travelling papers, as well as setting up deals and contacts for Wollenhaupt.”
In September, Business Report on Sunday wrote that Mbuende had been dismissed partly because of his relationship with Wollenhaupt. The newspaper quoted a senior government official as saying that Mbuende’s close links with Wollenhaupt had been investigated by the National Intelligence Agency and military intelligence, which had informed President Thabo Mbeki of their findings.
Wollenhaupt acknowledged his contact with Mbuende, but denied any impropriety.
He said the leaked intelligence report was either fraudulent or not officially sanctioned and that it was riddled with inaccuracies including spelling mistakes made in documents once in the possession of his former girlfriend.
As for the arms deal with Lissouba, Wollenhaupt says he sold trucks and aircraft to the former president, but never arms. He also says he has had business dealings with the man who ousted Lissouba, Dennis Sassou-Nguesso. This, he claims, means he could not have been trading in arms with Lissouba.
Company records show that one of Wollenhaupt’s companies, Support Systems Corporation (SSC), was jointly owned by a company called RDP, an offshoot of Executive Outcomes. The M&G has information that SSC has been linked to arms and mercenary deals in Africa.
Wollenhaupt said these deals took place without his knowledge, and SSC employees working with his enemies had sought to abuse his contacts to pull off these deals. The M&G has information that RDP is linked to another security outfit, OPM, which is understood to work as a front for South African intelligence organisations.