THE SA government is to open high profile public hearings on Monday into a controversial multi-billion dollar arms deal. It will be presided over by a panel made up of three agencies led by the Public Protector, Selby Baqwa. The agencies are the Public Protector, the Auditor General and the National Directorate for Public Prosecutions. The hearings may last up to two months. The R43bn (5.5-billion) arms deal signed in December 1999 involved firms in Germany, Italy, Sweden, Britain, France and South Africa, including top names in the arms trade such as Sweden’s Saab, Britain’s BAE Systems and France’s Thomson-CSF. It was supposed to generate investments worth R104bn and create 65_000 jobs. But allegations of bribery and corruption have dogged the deal and a preliminary study by the auditor-general last year called for an in-depth review after finding serious flaws in procedure. – Reuters