Delivers apology if he inadvertently brought the nation into disrepute'

Amid bizarre and shadowy claims of a plot to assassinate President Thabo Mbeki, former intelligence officer Mo Shaik said yesterday that others associated with the Scorpions would be arrested within 24 hours.

Shaik made the claim just minutes before his tearful closing address to the Hefer commission, to which he delivered a dramatic apology.

Shaik insisted he had "gone public" with claims that Scorpions chief Bulelani Ngcuka was investigated as an apartheid spy for the best possible motives.

"The new SA has put on us an obligation to serve the constitution, and to serve the Bill of Rights," Shaik said. But if by raising the allegations he had "brought the country into disrepute, then I apologise".

His final day of evidence was marked by admissions that he might be proven wrong about Ngcuka, but also by continued assertions that his suspicions persisted.

He claimed at one point that the Scorpions had gained information presented to the commission illegally, for example by tapping cellphone conversations.

Counsel for Ngcuka, Marumo Moerane, denied this.

During the same outburst, Shaik said "some people associated with the Scorpions" would be arrested on charges of conspiracy to murder. Shaik was apparently referring to the arrest at the weekend of security consultant Bheki Jacobs, who is believed to have authored a report that makes bizarre claims about a plot to assassinate Mbeki.

The document is understood to claim that the plot is backed by high-ranking politicians. The report has been labelled "disinformation" by the National Intelligence Agency, and Mbeki's office denied that Jacobs once worked for the presidency.

The reference to Jacobs' claims, which could further muddy the waters around the Hefer probe, appeared to be an attempt on Shaik's part to suggest that the Scorpions use dubious methods to collect information.

Shaik's cross-examination yesterday focused on other motivations he may have had for publicly stating Ngcuka was investigated as a spy. Moerane pointed out that his statements coincided with charges brought against his brother Schabir.

"You have said you were carrying a flag for Deputy President Jacob Zuma, but I put it to you that you were not carrying a flag, you were merely flying a kite for your brother," Moerane said.

Shaik also acknowledged he had paid former Eastern Cape security policeman Gideon Nieuwoudt R40 000 for travel and living expenses after Nieuwoudt was involved in an E.tv documentary supporting Shaik's claims.

Shaik also said he had handed over more than 10 CD-Roms containing the database which he told Hefer about last week.

With acknowledgement to Tim Cohen and Business Day.