Richard Young, the managing director of Communications, Computers, Intelligence Integration Systems, a defence information technology company, will have to wait until August 27, to testify about alleged irregularities in awarding a tender for information management systems for four new corvettes. 

The public hearings into government's multi-billion rand arms procurement deal, which was supposed to resume this morning, was delayed for several hours, and has just been postponed for two weeks.The inquiry panel, chaired by Public Protector, Selby Baqwa, has met with Young's legal representatives in Pretoria to discuss the postponement.  

Young claims his company was named as the preferred supplier. The tender was later awarded to Detexis, a French company. It is the sister company of African Defence Systems in which Chippy Shaik, the brother of chief arms negotiator, Shabir, has a stake. 

His testimony is expected to implicate a number of individuals and organisations.  

Three government agencies, the Public Protector, the National Directorate of Public Prosecutions and the Auditor-General's Office, are probing between forty and fifty allegations of wrongdoing in the arms procurement deal. A team of about thirty members from the agencies and a number of other experts are handling the criminal and forensic probe. 

With acknowledgement to SABC News.