Wednesday's parliamentary hearings on the arms deal report continued to focus on whether suspended head of acquisitions Chippy Shaik could have influenced the selection of the arms contracts.

Public Protector Selby Baqwa said while an individual could have influenced the awarding of contracts, there was no evidence to suggest this.

Baqwa, together with Auditor-General Shauket Fakie, was briefing the members of seven parliamentary committees on the report into the multibillion-rand arms deal that was tabled in Parliament last month.

'We may be uncomfortable about some things but we can't necessarily put that in'

Fakie said the report showed that Shaik had played a leading role in various decision-making committees that dealt with the deal.

The investigators had been uncomfortable with that situation, but did not feel that Shaik had been able to use the position to influence decisions.

He would have had to influence many high-ranking officials and politicians, and he had not done that.

Fakie said everything in the report was based on evidence, and not "gut feeling".

"We may be uncomfortable about some things but we can't necessarily put that in," he said.

Fakie said investigators had cross-examined Shaik for two days and asked him to provide answers to 40 pages of questions, but had been unable to find evidence that he had influenced the awarding of the main contracts.

In their efforts to find evidence of wrongdoing, investigators had scrutinised "voluminous documents", they had consulted witnesses who had played a role in the various processes of the arms procurement package, and had invited unsuccessful bidders to volunteer information, Fakie said.

He confirmed that the Department of Defence and Armscor had made recommendations to the prime contractors regarding their choice of subcontractors and that Shaik had played a role in making these proposals.

Meanwhile Parliament's joint standing committee on defence recommended in a report released on Wednesday that people who had been named in the arms probe report as having been involved in a conflict of interest "and/or engaged in activities deemed unprofessional from the perspective of the procurement process should be debarred from service in any civil service or parastatals".

Shaik occupied the position of chief of acquisitions and the position of chief director within the Defence Department.

The committee said an investigation needed to be conducted by the Defence Department and Armscor of those individuals whose professional behaviour was queried in the arms probe report.
Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon said on Wednesday the DA would launch a national petition demanding that the government cut back and contain the escalating cost of the arms deal. He called on the government to cancel the remaining two branches of the deal.