Document handed in at corruption trial reveals how five members of Parliament's defence committee enjoyed free trips and lunches.

For three years a German arms company boss wined and dined his way into the lives of five South African government officials, who all played a key role in deciding the country's biggest arms deal.

The five men, all members of the Parliamentary Joint Standing Committee on Defence, included Tony Yengeni, who at the time held one of the most powerful jobs in Parliament as the ANC's Chief Whip.

Yengeni now stands accused of fraud and corruption, along with the German boss, Michael Woerfel, who was the managing director of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS), which at the time was lobbying the South African government to buy its AT 2000 aircraft.

They will appear in the Pretoria Commercial Crimes Court on May 30. At the centre of the case is a luxury 4x4 vehicle that Yengeni is alleged to have received from Woerfel's company at a massive discount.

Woerfel and Yengeni were arrested after the Sunday Times published a series of articles on the history of the green ML320, valued at R359 000 at the time.

This week, a document revealing the extent of Woerfel's generosity and the influence he allegedly tried to gain was submitted at court.

The document contains a list of Woerfel's expenses incurred in his capacity as head of the arms company. It shows how more than R500 000 was spent on flying Yengeni and his colleagues, including a parliamentary secretary, around South Africa and to Paris and South America.

The list included receipts for lunches and dinners with Yengeni, which varied between R18 and R2 000.

Probably the most startling revelation is a weekend getaway, when Woerfel flew Yengeni and his colleagues to Johannesburg from Durban and Cape Town for a meeting at a private lodge.

All were members of Parliament's Joint Standing Committee on Defence - Yengeni, Ntsiki Mashimbye, Mbulelo Goniwe, Johan Marais, Rapulane Molekani (now a South African consul-general, in Munich, Germany) and Thabang Makwetla.

Marais' family was flown from Durban to Johannesburg and back at a cost of R4 760. Mashimbye's "party" was flown from Cape Town to Johannesburg and back for R8 055.

The group was booked into the Kalinga lodge at a cost of R16 800.

According to the document, at least three high-ranking SA National Defence Force officers were also entertained by Woerfel.

There is one standard reason given for the disbursement of company funds for Woerfel's expenses: "AT 2000", the aircraft EADS was trying to sell to the South African government in the arms deal.

In the end, EADS only benefited from about R500-million worth of contracts secured by its partners, Aerospatiale Matra, which got a contract to supply Exocet missiles, and Reutech Radar Systems, which got a R220-million contract to supply tracking radars for four Navy corvettes.

For Yengeni, the friendship with Woerfel started over lunch in November 1996 at the Gerhard Moerdyk restaurant in Pretoria. Three months later, the German flew to Cape Town for a private meeting with Yengeni about the AT 2000. The next day, Woerfel spent R241 on wine for Yengeni and another business associate. In June 1997, Woerfel spent nearly R100 000 flying Yengeni, Goniwe and others to Paris.

In October 1998, when Yengeni's controversial 4x4 was registered in his name, Woerfel's company paid for its registration, paid R60 towards fuel and submitted an invoice of R307 485 in respect of the vehicle. It was bought from EADS's sister company, DaimlerChrysler, as a staff car and allegedly later sold at a loss to Yengeni.

With acknowledgements to Jessica Bezudenhout, Mzilikazi Wa Afrika and Sunday Times.