Businessman Richard Young is suing Yunis Shaikh, brother of Shamim "Chippy" Shaikh, the former chief of weapons acquisitions, for R250 000 for defamation.

Young's Cape Town-based computer systems company C2I2 Systems lost out on a contract to supply combat technology for the South African Navy's four new corvettes.

In response to Young's action, Shaikh, a lawyer at the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration in Johannesburg, apologised to Young. He conceded that his comments in an interview on a television programme in November 2001 were "not correct, proper or fair."

In papers in the Cape High Court yesterday, Young claims Shaikh's remarks were broadcast to a national audience of up to 600 000 people and were understood by viewers to mean he was dishonourable, untrustworthy, guilty of disgraceful conduct, and defamed people and misused the media to achieve his ends.

In the programme shown in court, Shaikh told the programme host that Young had embarked on "a campaign of sleaze and slander" through the media after he had been removed as a preferred contractor to provide the information management system for the corvettes to be built for the navy.

Justice Hennie Nel reserved judgment.

With acknowledgement to Sapa and SABC News.