INVESTIGATORS on Sunday confirmed that public hearings into the multi-billion arms deal would begin soon and that several people would be ?invited? to testify.

However, it appears that Parliament?s watchdog public accounts committee (Scopa) ? which originally called for a multi-agency probe into the deal ? has been sidelined.

Scopa chairman Dr Gavin Woods said on Sunday: ?The committee is still pretty much in the dark regarding the investigators? plans.?

On whether the committee had been sidelined, he said: ?We have been sidelined. We had interventions by the (National Assembly) Speaker, which by design created uncertainty about accountability arrangements.?

That uncertainty has been exploited to the point that we are now in the dark.?

Auditor-General Shauket Fakie had even asked that Scopa members did not contact his staff about the arms deal, Woods said.

Woods said he had written to Speaker Dr Frene Ginwala to clarify the issue of accountability arrangements, but had yet to receive a response.

She was the person who put the issue on the table.? When the committee discussed the question of accountability with the investigating heads on December 13, their was no problem on their side?, he said.

It was only after the intervention by madam Speaker that I sensed a reluctance from investigators to have any communication with us, except the obligatory periodic report.?

Woods said that although the committee would not be unreasonable about aspects of the case that should be confidential, ?not withstanding that, I certainly feel , it is appropriate to have a stronger communications to keep us in the picture?.

Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for the multi-agency investigating team, Lynette van Rooyen said a full media statement would be released later this week about the public hearings.

It was expected that the hearings would take place in Pretoria probably at the end of the month or the beginning of June.

The Sunday Times reported that military chiefs, cabinet ministers and Pan Africanist Congress MP Patricia de Lille would be on the list of witnesses.

However, Van Rooyen was unable to confirm this, saying details of the hearings were still being finalised.

Stoffel Fourie, an advocate in the Public Protector?s office, reportedly said: ?We will call all the witnesses necessary to bring this matter into the open.?

He said there was no chance that the public hearings would jeopardise the criminal inquiry.

By carefully managing the process, we will see to it that the public phase of the investigation does not lead evidence that should be dealt with in the other (confidential) part,? he said.

Fourie will lead the evidence, assisted by officials from the National Directorate of Public Prosecutions. ? Sapa

With acknowledgements to Sapa and Business Day.