Johannesburg - The arms procurement deal investigation was fundamentally flawed from the outset, and President Thabo Mbeki's advisors stunted the process when they influenced the course of justice, said former judge Willem Heath on Saturday.

Speaking at the inaugural conference of the Independent Democrats in Johannesburg, Heath said: "The process which was set out to do this investigation was fundamentally flawed from the outset."

Heath said Justice Minister Penuell Maduna, who recommended to Mbeki that Heath be excluded from the arms-deal probe, purposefully ignored pertinent issues regarding the validity of the tendering, and contracts awarded.

Heath said Maduna knew full well the scope of the probe needed the inclusion of the special investigative unit, but instead "the relevant minister pillaged and raped the application of the law".

"The minister, therefore, set as prerequisite for the SIU involvement in the investigation standards of information and evidence which would only be attained once an investigation was completed.

Chief advisor to Mbeki

"A further ridiculous excuse used was the judgment of the Constitutional Court regarding the fact that a judge should not be head of an investigative unit.

"The Constitutional Court ruling only came into effect a year later. So, this could not have been a relevant excuse to exclude the SIU," Heath said.

However, Heath did not mention Maduna by name in his entire speech, preferring instead to call him the "relevant minister". "He is the chief advisor" to Mbeki on this matter, he said.

Under the legal mandate of the SIU, there was a clear basis for the unit to investigate the suggested corruption in the arms deal, said Heath.

"A definitive factual basis for the jurisdiction of the SIU appears from irregularities reflected in the auditor-general's report to parliament in September 2000, and again in evidence brought before parliament by the standing committee on public accounts, Scopa.

"It was, therefore, conceivable that because such proof of jurisdiction existed, only a definite and well-driven plan could have prevented the SIU from investigating the deal," he said.

"I firmly believe the perception is that the arms deal is, and was, marred with irregularities.

Rocky relationships

"The advisors to President Mbeki stunted the process of transparency by influencing the course of justice so as to prevent the issue of the arms deal from being properly investigated."

He said auditor-general Shauket Fakie, national public prosecutions director Bulelani Ngcuka and former public protector Selby Baqwa did not have the resources and expertise to investigate irregularities relating to the tendering process and awarding of contracts.

The three investigating agencies cleared the government of any wrongdoing in the R60bn arms deal.

On January 19 2001, Mbeki announced he had decided the Heath special investigative unit should not be included in the probe into the government's arms acquisition programme.

Heath, who was appointed by former president Nelson Mandela, has had a rocky relationship with Mbeki and Maduna.

With acknowledgements to Sapa and News24.