Johannesburg - The furore surrounding the luxury vehicle owned by Tony Yengeni deepened on Sunday, with the DA accusing him of being in contempt of Parliament.

DA chief whip Douglas Gibson said in a statement released on Sunday that Yengeni has yet to explain why he had failed to appear before the Parliamentary Ethics Committee to answer allegations surrounding the Mercedes Benz worth R400 000.

The ML320 was ordered as a staff car by the European Aeronautic Defence and Space company (EADS), which stood to benefit from a R43 billion arms procurement deal, the Sunday Times reported earlier this year.

EADS apparently also ordered a silver Mercedes C180 saloon owned by Yengeni's wife Lumka and a sporty red SLK 320 belonging to his Congolese friend Wivine Ndlandu Kavidi, as staff cars.

The vehicles were bought at massive discounts.

On Sunday Yengeni issued a full-page advertisement in several newspapers defending himself on how he had acquired the state-of-the-art 4X4, saying that he'd bought the vehicle legitimately.

Allegations a total misrepresentation of the truth

He said as a member of parliament's defence committee, he had no influence on who was awarded a contract in the arms procurement deal.

Allegations that Yengeni received the car as a bribe to influence the award of contracts in the arms deal were "a total misrepresentation of the truth".

"This committee played no role whatsoever in the procurement process of the military equipment for the (SA) National Defence Force."

That was exclusively an executive function of the Cabinet.

"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."

But Gibson said he disputed that. "If this is true, and I dispute it, Mr Yengeni is stating that he and his committee totally abrogated their oversight role.

'What was he being paid for?'

"What was he doing? What was he being paid for? If he failed to carry out the most basic function of his committee?" he asked.

"Why does Mr Yengeni not deal in this extensive advertisement with the crux of the Parliamentary issue? He fails to state why he did not declare the benefit. His silence on this point shrieks for an answer," said Gibson.

"Mr Tony Yengeni, Chief Whip of the ANC, has seen fit to communicate with South Africa via a paid advertisement in a Sunday newspaper.

Gibson said Yengeni should tell the public who paid for the advertisement. "I am unimpressed with the statement, which raises more questions, than it answers," he said.

The PAC and the Afrikaner Eenheidsbeweging (AEB) have also questioned why Yengeni had not yet appeared before parliament's ethics committee. The parties added on Sunday that Yengeni still had questions to answer with regard to the acquisition of his luxury Mercedes Benz.

Nowhere in the ad does Yengeni say the paper was wrong

"The PAC's appeal to Yengeni is to now submit the information with documentary proof to the Ethics Committee of Parliament for further investigation," PAC chief whip Patricia de Lille said on Sunday afternoon.

AEB leader Cassie Aucamp said in a statement: "There is still a lot of unanswered questions regarding certain dates as well as regarding other vehicles not mentioned in Yengeni's advertisement."

The two parties' reaction came in response to the advertisement.

"There is nowhere in the advertisement Mr Yengeni says the Sunday Times article was wrong or the newspaper made a mistake," De Lille said.

She said the advertisement was a "belated, expensive damage control exercise" since the story broke earlier this year.

"The full-page advertisement is also not in line with the official position of the ANC in the Ethics Committee of Parliament.

"It seems to me Mr Yengeni took delivery of the vehicle first and then sought to finance it later."

Who paid for it?

Aucamp asked why Yengeni suddenly splashed out R250 000 on advertisements to supply information on his cars when he refused to do so in the past. It can only be that he shows an aversion to parliamentary processes just because the initiative was taken by an opposition party - the Democratic Alliance," said Aucamp.

"The inquiry would have been just to check a couple of documents. Why was it (the information) not made available to the committee. And who paid for the advertisement, if it is the government, we will have a new corruption scandal to deal with. "If it is Mr Yengeni himself, it would have been the most expensive Mercedes Benz he has ever bought in his life," said Aucamp. 

With acknowledgment to Sapa and News24.