African National Congress chief whip Tony Yengeni has failed to respond to questions from a parliamentary ethics committee about his luxury 4x4 and has questioned the committee's procedures, according to parliamentary sources. 

The joint standing committee on ethics and members' interests began a preliminary investigation on March 28 into claims by the Democratic Alliance that Yengeni failed to disclose some of his assets, including his Mercedes Benz, in the register of members' interests. 

It directed the registrar of members' interests, Fazela Mohamed, to write to Yengeni asking him to reply to the allegations that he had failed to disclose the vehicle, acquired through a company with connections to the R43-billion arms deal, and a residential property in Tijgerhof. 

Yengeni replied to the letter on Friday, but Mohamed said its contents could not be disclosed before the chairwoman of the joint committee on ethics and members' interests, Bernard Ncube, had considered the response. 

Despite several attempts, Ncube could not be reached for comment yesterday. 

According to well-placed parliamentary sources, in his letter Yengeni did not respond to the allegations and questioned the procedures of the committee. 

Asked to respond, Yengeni's spokesman, Dennis Cruywagen, said: "No comment." 

DA chief whip Douglas Gibson and Jeremy Cronin of the ANC have pressed for the committee's investigation to be held in public. 

With acknowledgment to Andre Koopman, Cape Times and Independent Online.