The government of the Republic of Congo has launched a massive R100-million lawsuit against South Africa's armaments parastatal, Armscor, over the sale of a batch of Puma helicopters.

Lawyers acting for the Congolese government have issued summons demanding Armscor repay about R80-million and the interest in US dollars it received for the helicopters which were never delivered.

Minah Sindane-Bloem, Armscor's senior manager of corporate communications, said that Armscor had notified the court of its intention to defend the claim, saying it cannot be held liable for non-delivery of the helicopters.

She said Armscor had briefed its lawyer, but stated that it never had a contract with the Congolese government.

It is not clear why the civil claim is being launched against Armscor, but it has been confirmed that the Congolese government bought the helicopters in July 1997 and paid a portion of a R100-million deposit into Armscor's Pretoria account.

The Sunday Times has established that Armscor supplied the helicopters and received payment after selling them to a private company, Support Systems Corporation, which in turn had a sales agreement with the Congolese government.

The Sunday Times is in possession of the summons, issued in the Pretoria High Court three weeks ago, demanding payment of the sum of $7.7-million (about R83-million) in respect of helicopters it paid for during July 1997, which were not delivered.

The summons also claims that notwithstanding a demand, Armscor has refused to pay any amount.

According to Armscor, it has not filed responding papers as the Congolese initially used two separate law firms to represent its interest. Armscor awaits clarity on which lawyer was authorised to act on behalf of the Congolese government.

With acknowledgements to Jesica Bezuidenhout and Sunday Times.