Johannesburg - in 1999, the power to cancel the arms deal was in the hands of one man only : Justice Willem Heath.

Correspondence in the charge sheet against Deputy President Jacob Zuma's financial advisor Schabir Shaik reveals Zuma did his utmost to keep the investigation away from Heath's corruption-busting Special Investigating Unit.

The drama began in November 1998 when Auditor-General Shauket Fakie identified the arms deal as a high-risk area from an audit point of view and decided on the need for a special review of the procurement process. This was approved on September 28, 1999 by Minister of Defence, Musiuoa Lekota.

At the same time questions were raised by the media and in parliament about alleged irregularities in the arms deal.

The Office of the Presidency denied allegations of Zuma's involvement.

But allegations of corruption in respect of the corvette contract persisted in the media.

These allegations escalated into a barrage of requests that Heath be called in to have a look.

At the time the Special Investigating Unit was a statutory agency mandated to investigate irregularities and corruption.

During September 1999 Patricia de Lille, former chief whip of the PAC and a member of parliament, called for a mission of enquiry. She handed over documentation pertaining to the allegations to the Heath unit on November 30 that year.

In February 2000 it was reported that the unit was ready to start investigating.

This was a dangerous moment for the arms deal as the charge sheet implies: "Of all the investigative agencies who get involved in an investigation into the arms deal, the Heath special investigation (sic) unit was he only one with the power to cancel the contract."

The unit's findings were made on the basis of the civil law standard of "balance of probabilities" and would make subsequent legal efforts to have the arms deal cancelled or reviewed easier.

At the moment the arms deal is still the subject of a court dispute. Terry Crawford-Browne, had of Economists Allied for Arms Reduction (Ecaar), said yesterday they hoped to get a court dated before Christmas to have its application heard by the Cape High Court. Ecaar is trying to have the arms deal loan agreements signed by Finance Minister Trevor Manuel, declared unreasonable and unconstitutional.

Ecaar is embroiled in a contempt-of-court application with the government over documents the department of finance was ordered to give to Crawford-Browne but had not done so.

"I want to see what it is that Trevor Manuel signed away," Crawford-Browne said.

With acknowledgements to Estelle Ellis and the Cape Times.