Auditor General Shauket Fakie rejected on Thursday a media report stating that the final report into the arms deal had been changed to protect a senior naval officer.

He said in a statement the article in last week's Mail & Guardian was "factually incorrect".

"The investigating team stands by the content of the report and stresses that there were no substantial changes to the content of the report tabled in Parliament in November 2001."

The indication that a source in his office, and the investigators involved in the drafting process, provided the newspaper with the information contained in the article was being probed, Fakie said.

The newspaper said that according to investigators, Real-Admiral Johnny Kamerman had admitted that he or his family received gifts from companies that formed part of the consortia that won contracts in the multi-billion rand deal.

The investigators had said that reference to this was removed from the final report. Kamerman, who held a crucial position in the navy's acquisition programme, denied that he had made the admission, it said.

Fakie has repeatedly denied that the arms deal report was substantively changed after being shown to the executive prior to its release.

Democratic Alliance public accounts spokeswoman Raenette Taljaard last year called on the AG to set the record straight regarding his interaction with the executive following claims suspended Defence acquisitions chief Chippy Shaik had been allowed to make changes to the report.

She has requested a copy of his office's forensic report into the arms deal together with the first draft that was submitted to the executive.

With acknowledgement to Sapa.