THE chief whip of South Africa's ruling party on Sunday denied any wrongdoing in a controversial $5,5-billion arms deal, saying he was the victim of an unsubstantiated witchhunt.

In a full-page advertisement published in the Sunday Independent, Tony Yengeni said a claim that he received a luxury 4X4 Mercedes Benz in return for an arms contract was an "unfounded allegation."

The advertisement was Yengeni's first public comment on his involvement in the deal in which South Africa plans to buy fighter aircraft, helicopters, corvettes and submarines from five European arms manufacturers.

Yengeni also maintained the allegations against him were racially motivated.

"The issue of racism reared its ugly head once more. It clearly motivated some of the worst forms of McCarthyism during this whole frenzy and witchhunt," he said.

The probe began in January after the opposition charged that the government appeared to be covering up corruption, and the investigators are due to report to parliament towards the end of the month.

Yengeni formerly chaired parliament's defence committee, which played a key role in the government's controversial decision to upgrade the post-apartheid military.

But Yengeni denied that the committee was ever involved in the buying of arms and military equipment, saying the decision lay solely with the country's cabinet.

"I reiterate that 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," Yengeni said.

Yengeni denied reports that he received a discount of almost half the price on the 4X4 vehicle, saying he had paid a deposit of R50 000 ($6 000) before starting a downpayment on the car, which he said cost a total of R230 000 ($27 800).

Earlier this month, the Johannesburg-based The Star newspaper published a list of 33 vehicles which it said local representatives of European aerospace group Eads had supplied to senior government officials -- including Yengeni -- and members of South Africa's defence and aviation communities.

Eads has a 33% stake in Reutech Radar Systems, based in Stellenbosch, South Africa, which won a $25-million contract to supply missile and radar technology aboard the four corvettes the government has ordered.

"If anyone has been found to have done wrong, they should face the music. Equally, if no wrongdoing has been found, those responsible for creating the confusion must face full responsibility for their actions," Yengeni concluded.

Yengeni said he was approached by Eads Managing Director Michael Woerfel in 1998 to buy a new Mercedes 4X4 which was about to be launched in South Africa."He mentioned to me that having a person of my calibre driving the Mercedes ML model would do much to market their product. Convincing me was not a difficult task as I am a Mercedes Benz fan," Yengeni said.

Woerfel has since been suspended pending the outcome of the probe into the arms deal. The arms probe by three statutory agencies was expected to continue on Monday.

With acknowledgement to Reuters, AFP and the Daily Mail & Guardian.