The chief of the air force and the former chairperson of the standing committee on public enterprises are among those recorded to have received discounted Mercedes-Benz vehicles through a company that will benefit from the multibillion-rand arms deal.

This emerged on Tuesday after The Star published a list of 33 cars that VIPs received through the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS), which stands to make money on the arms deal.

The former chairperson of the public enterprises committee, Mandla Msomi, whose name is on the list, has said, however, that he bought his car directly from the former Daimler-Benz, the predecessor of DaimlerChrysler SA.

Received the normal discount

Major Louis Kirstein said that South African Air Force chief Lieutenant-General Roelf Beukes did buy a Mercedes-Benz, but received the normal discount.

"What we can say is that Beukes's contract on his previous vehicle expired in February 2001. He considered several options for a replacement, selected a Mercedes-Benz and was given the normal discount for the vehicle, which was financed through Stannic, and insurance was taken out on it."

He confirmed that Beukes bought an E240. However, Kirstein could not confirm that it was bought for R267 000 from EADS on February 15 2001 at 7,61 percent discount of the retail price. Despite this, EADS did make a profit on that sale.

The documents in The Star's possession reflect that Msomi was sold a Colt Rodeo 3.0 and a Mercedes-Benz E320 by EADS. These documents show that EADS purchased the Colt for R125 892 and sold it to Msomi for R102 365 on December 12 1998. The E320 was purchased by EADS for R250 800 and sold to Msomi for R195 650 on December 15 1998.

They do not state what discount he received.

'Innocent people... are being subjected to scrutiny'

Msomi said: "My name is on that list but I bought from Daimler-Benz... not EADS. They were clearing their secondhand vehicles on a sale basis and I was invited to see what was in their yard in Pretoria.

"It was a straightforward sale. (Finance) was done for me through my bank, FNB. At the time it was my last year as chair of the committee. I had been serving from 1994, and in 1999 I was no longer chairman." He added that his committee had no input on the arms procurement programme.

"Unfortunately, innocent people like myself and others are being subjected to scrutiny," Msomi said. "My log books indicate that those cars were from the Daimler-Benz fleet. At no stage did I deal with EADS."  

With acknowledgment to Marvin Meintjies, Sheena Adams and The Star.