The Democratic Alliance (DA) on Wednesday lauded the decision by the chairperson of Parliament’s standing committee on public accounts (Scopa), Themba Godi, to place the DA’s request for Scopa to reopen the arms-deal probe on the agenda.
The DA also understood that Scopa members needed more time to consider the substance of the evidence presented and to take a considered and independent view on the issue in the best interests of the country, DA spokesperson Eddie Trent said.
”The DA firmly believes that Scopa’s responsibilities and obligations relating to the investigation of alleged irregularities and corruption associated with the arms deal have yet to be fulfilled.”
There were compelling reasons for Scopa to exercise its responsibilities in this matter, and in light of recent developments, Scopa had an obligation to take up the matter, he said in a statement.
These reasons included the establishment of an ad-hoc committee by the newly elected African National Congress (ANC) national executive committee to investigate the deal.
”It is unthinkable that the Parliament, and therefore Scopa, should abdicate its responsibility by doing nothing while the governing party gathers information about itself and its officials that will not be subjected to any form of public scrutiny,” Trent said.
Former ANC MP and Scopa member Andrew Feinstein had made a number of serious allegations of cover-ups and corruption related to the arms deal in his recently published book, After the Party.
To date, none of the allegations has been denied or refuted.
Trent said an inspection of the final version of the joint investigating team’s report and the comparison of this with the version given to the Cabinet committee for review showed very substantial changes.
Yet former auditor general Shauket Fakie and former public protector Selby Baqwa testified to Scopa that there were only format changes for the sake of ”user-friendliness”.
”This is allegedly untrue and the extent of these allegations and the truth thereof have never been properly investigated.”
In addition, criminal investigations relating to allegations of corruption associated with the arms deal had now been launched in the United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden and Switzerland, he said. — Sapa