Scorpions on Friday arrested businessman Shabir Shaik, brother of the government's chief of defence acquisitions, Chippy Shaik, on charges linked to the arms deal, a spokesman said.

Sipho Ngwema, spokesman for the Directorate of Public Prosecutions, told Reuters Shaik was arrested shortly after 08H00 and would appear in court on Friday. He was the third person to be arrested in connection with the 1999 arms deal.

"He was found to be in possession of classified information, cabinet minutes and correspondence between ministers where the arms procurement process was discussed and his company was one of the companies that were bidding. It is an offence in terms of the Protection of Information Act to be in possession of secret documents," Ngwema said.

Shaik said in a radio interview shortly before his arrest that he and his brother, Chippy Shaik, did not collaborate in any way on the multi-billion dollar arms deal involving European companies.

With acknowledgement to Reuters and Business Day.