At the time of his death, Joe Modise closest associates were a band of white arms company executives drawn from the greasy brotherhood of the sanctions-busting era -- a strange legacy for a man claimed as a hero of the liberation struggle.

This is the picture that emerges from Modise latest will -- a document drafted a mere eight days before his death on November 26 last year. In fact, it was done at a time when Modise was so weak he could not sign and instead contributed a thumb-print.

First there was the witness to the will, one LR Swan. This is, of course, Llew Swan, the former CEO of Armscor, the state arms procurement agency.

In the post-1994 era Swan befriended Modise -- and it was this friendship that some say paved the way for Swan's entry into Armscor after he was sidelined by his previous employer, the defence company Reunert. Swan was, of course, a key player in negotiations around the country's multibillion-rand arms purchases.

Then there were the contents of the will, which appointed one Anthony John Ellingford as a trustee of Modise's major listed asset, the Letaba Trust.

Ellingford is the former CEO of Reunert, who resigned suddenly in 1997 when United States intelligence officials informed the Reunert board that he had a Swiss Bank account containing about $2-million.

The US investigators had come across the account during their investigation of sanctions-busting charges against Reunert subsidiary Fuchs, which had been part of an elaborate web of companies used by South Africa to evade the United Nations arms embargo. It is understood that Reunert was not aware of the Swiss account and a legal wrangle ensued over the money, some of which was eventually paid to Reunert in an out-of-court settlement.

Swan and Ellingford were long-time associates. Both are understood to have been consultants for a German submarine consortium, one of the main contractors in the multibillion-rand arms deal, on offset packages following Swan's departure from Armscor in November 1999.

With acknowledgement to the Mail and Guardian.