Mail & Guardian
Mail & Guardian

DA questions UK arms deal investigation

2 min read

The Democratic Alliance has posed a number of questions to National Director of Public Prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka relating to allegations concerning British arms company BAe Systems.

DA spokesperson Raenette Taljaard said revelations in the British Parliament about the role and conduct of BAe Systems and its agent in securing South Africa’s Lead in Fighter Trainer (Lift) contract had turned the spotlight on allegations of gifts and payments in the multi-billion rand arms deal.

”While a British parliamentary committee continues to probe UK arms exports, South Africa’s Scorpions must continue their probe,” she said in a statement on Monday.

”I have today written to the National Director of Public Prosecutions, asking him to answer a number of questions relating to allegations concerning BAe Systems and its representatives and/or consultants in South Africa.”

The export policies and practices of BAe Systems is currently the subject of an investigation by a special committee of the House of Commons.

Taljaard said in view of ”recent revelations”, the DA believed it important to know whether the Airborne Trust, Richard Charter, Osprey Aerospace, and/or any other agents linked to the arms deal, were investigated in relation to the strategic defence procurement package.

She also asked Ngcuka whether certain questions were part of the joint investigation team’s (JIT) probe, and whether answers could be provided by his office. These included:

  • Whether the allegations of election funding to the African National Congress (ANC), and of a payment to former defence minister Joe Modise, including the details of the bank transfers mentioned in the UK’s Guardian newspaper, were investigated;

  • Whether any money was donated by Richard Charter, as BAe Systems’s agent in South Africa and as chair of the Airborne Trust, to any organ of the ANC, including its Veterans Association;

  • Whether BAe set up a £50 000 scholarship fund for an ANC-appointed scholar to research ANC archives at Fort Hare University, and whether Charter met with Modise, his then deputy Ronnie Kasrils, and members of the National Assembly, to set up or finalise these activities;

  • Whether the Airborne Trust paid for Modise’s travel to the UK, or for the travel arrangements of other government officials, and what was the purpose of these visits;

  • Whether these questions were part of the JIT investigation, or, if not, the reasons for their exclusion; and,

  • Alternatively, were these questions part of the ongoing investigations. – Sapa