Efforts by the Economists Allied for Arms Reduction to gain access to documents that suggest Finance Minister Trevor Manuel was warned in advance about the risks of entering into the arms deal have been thwarted again. This came after the state made an application in the Cape Town High Court on Wednesday to keep the documents sealed.

An affidavit, drafted by national treasury director-general Maria Ramos on Manuel's behalf, was sent to Cape Town High Court judges Andre Blignault and Dennis Davis and to the lobby group's chairman Terry Crawford-Browne ahead of today's deadline.

It requests that the advice given to the state by its international negotiating team and the financial working group was sensitive and should remain confidential.

It asked that the court set up a system whereby Crawford-Browne's legal team could see the documents, but did not mention the retired international banker.

Crawford-Browne's lawyers volunteered this solution at the early stages of negotiations with government for the documents, but this was refused.

He said they were considering their strategy and expected to respond sometime next week.

"We feel that the government's response is in contempt of court, and feel that we have the right to ask that the court order them to hand over the documents," he said.

The lobby group is arguing that the arms deal infringes on the rights of the poor and could be better spent on housing, health care and education. It estimates that with the present decline of the rand averaging 17% a year, it could cost SA R287bn in nine years time.

With acknowledgements to Chantelle Benjamin and the Business Day.