There was no policy for the foreign acquisition of arms when the government embarked on the multi-billion rand arms acquisition process, the Durban High Court heard on Tuesday.
State witness David Griesel said this while testifying in the fraud and corruption trial of Schabir Shaik.
He is the assistant general manager of acquisition at the Armaments Corporation of SA, Armscor, which is an acquisition agent for the South African Defence of Defence.
Griesel said that a policy had to be tailor-made for the process, which started in the early 1990s.
He said there was no policy for foreign acquisition after South Africa’s markets were opened.
This was also the first time that external funding was requested from the Department of Finance and the first time the Department of Trade and Industry was involved.
He said the awarding of the tender was done on a points basis. In the case of the naval corvette tender, the German Frigate Consortium (GFC) got top marks throughout the entire process.
Griesel said at the time of the process, Shaik’s brother, Chippie Shaik, was head of acquisitions for the Department of Defence.
He said: ”[Chippie] Shaik was to a very large extent driving the process”.
Griesel said the main contractors in the acquisition process were allowed to choose their own sub-contractors.
The state alleges that Schabir Shaik solicited a R500 000 per annum bribe for Deputy President Jacob Zuma from French arms company Thomson-CFF in exchange for protection during investigations into irregularities into the arms deal.
It also alleged that through Zuma’s influence Shaik and his Nkobi Holdings secured a slice of the arms deal.
The German Frigate Consortium won the Corvette tender and Shaik’s Nkobi and Thomson-CFF had shares in ABF, which was part of the GFC. – Sapa
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