Political parties have continued to raise questions concerning the luxury Mercedes Benz owned by African National Congress (ANC) Chief Whip Tony Yengeni.

This was despite the estimated R250,000 he had splashed out on full-page advertisements in a number of Sunday newspapers explaining how he got the luxury green ML320 Mercedes Benz.

The advert did not appear in the Sunday Times, the paper that first reported on the discount Mercedes deals for about 30 "VIPs", including Yengeni, earlier this year.

The 4x4, worth about R400,000, was bought as a "staff car" at a massive discount by a company which stood to benefit from the government's ongoing multi-billion rand arms procurement programme.

The questions that remained unanswered, political parties said, included some around the acquisition of a C180 saloon by Yengeni's wife Lumka and a sporty red SLK320 belonging to his Congolese friend Wivine Ndlandu Kavidi.

All three cars were bought by the European Aeronautic Defence and Space company (Eads) as "staff cars" and were re-sold - according to reports at a loss to the European multinational.

Democratic Alliance (DA) chief whip Douglas Gibson asked why Yengeni never declared his 4x4 to the registrar of members' interests, as was required of all parliamentarians. "He fails to state why he did not declare the benefit. His silence on this point shrieks for an answer," said Gibson.

Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) MP Patricia De Lille added: "It seems to me Mr Yengeni took delivery of the vehicle first and then sought to finance it later."

The DA, the PAC and the Afrikaner Eenheidsbeweging (AEB) were among the first to react to the advertisement, in which Yengeni said he bought the ML320 legitimately and that any suspicion of bribery to influence the awarding of contracts in the procurement programme was untrue.

Yengeni chaired the joint standing committee on defence when negotiations preceding the signing of contracts took place. The deals were signed in December 1999.

"This committee played no role whatsoever in the procurement process of the military equipment for the (SA) National Defence Force." That was exclusively an executive function of the Cabinet, he said.

"As I was not a Cabinet member, I never played any role in the award of any of the contracts. The committee, as well, never played any role in the procurement process."

But Gibson said he disputed that. "If this is true, and I dispute it, Mr Yengeni is stating that he and his committee totally abrogated their oversight role. What was he doing? What was he being paid for? If he failed to carry out the most basic function of his committee?" he asked. "Why does Mr Yengeni not deal in this extensive advertisement with the crux of the parliamentary issue?"

Gibson went on to say that Yengeni should tell the public who paid for the advertisement. "I am unimpressed with the statement, which raises more questions than it answers," he said.

Other questions the AEB, the PAC and the DA demanded answers on included why Yengeni has failed to appear before the parliamentary ethics committee, his four months' silence, and the submission of the information to the committee on ethics so it could continue with its investigation.

Gibson accused Yengeni of contempt of Parliament and said he has yet to explain why he snubbed the ethics committee.

De Lille urged Yengeni to submit all information and documentary proof to parliament's ethics committee for investigation. "There is nowhere in the advertisement where Mr Yengeni says the Sunday Times article was wrong or the newspaper made a mistake," De Lille said.

She said the advertisement was a "belated, expensive damage-control exercise" since the reportage of the vehicles started earlier this year. "The full-page advertisement is also not in line with the official position of the ANC in the ethics committee of Parliament."

AEB leader Cassie Aucamp asked why Yengeni suddenly splashed out the estimated R250,000 on advertisements to supply information on his cars when had he refused to do so in the past. "It can only be that he shows an aversion to parliamentary processes just because the initiative was taken by an opposition party - the Democratic Alliance," said Aucamp.

"The inquiry would have been just to check a couple of documents. Why was it (the information) not made available to the committee?

"And who paid for the advertisement? If it is the government, we will have a new corruption scandal to deal with. If it is Mr Yengeni himself, it would have been the most expensive Mercedes Benz he has ever bought in his life," said Aucamp.

The PAC, the DA and the AEB said Yengeni should state who financed the advertisements.

ANC spokesman Smuts Ngonyama said on Sunday night that the party had not paid for the advert and that, to his knowledge, neither had government. Government Communication and Information System head Joel Netshitenze could not be reached for comment.

With acknowledgment to Sapa and the Sunday Times.