State argues that deputy president intervened to stop investigation in order to protect French arms company

Two politicians hit brick walls in their attempts to have Judge Willem Heath and his special investigative unit look into the multibillion-rand arms deal.

This evidence was heard in the Durban High Court yesterday at Schabir Shaik's trial. Shaik faces two counts of corruption and one of fraud, which he denies.

Independent Democrats leader Patricia de Lille told the court that in 1999 she had received some information about corruption in the deal. She wanted Heath to investigate, but President Thabo Mbeki would not sign a proclamation.

The former chairperson of parliament's standing committee on public accounts (Scopa), Gavin Woods, also said that in late 2000 his committee wanted the Heath unit to investigate the deal together with the Public Protector, National Directorate of Public Prosecutions and the Auditor-General, but had to settle for a joint investigation by the latter three.

The Heath unit had the power to have corrupt contracts cancelled.

The state says the exclusion of the Heath unit was suspicious, specifically as referred to in a letter written in January 2001 by Deputy President Jacob Zuma.

Advocate Billy Downer SC said it was their case that this was done because there was an agreement that Zuma would be paid a bribe, facilitated by Shaik, to protect French arms company Thomson from investigation.

But Woods conceded in cross-examination by Shaik's counsel, Francois van Zyl SC, that several government ministers, including then justice minister Penuell Maduna, the Public Protector and the Director of Public Prosecutions were in favour of excluding the Heath unit from the investigation, and that Zuma was only expressing the government's view.

Woods said he still found Zuma's letter puzzling.

In re-examination, he added that the other government officials did not copy their opinions to the major contractors in the arms deal, specifically Thomson.

Woods further said he believed that Zuma overstepped the boundaries between the executive and legislative powers of the government by interfering with the work of Scopa.

He told the court that Scopa started looking at the arms deal after it was reviewed by the Auditor-General. Scopa concluded that it must be probed further.

Like De Lille, Woods wrote a letter to Mbeki, asking him to consider issuing a proclamation. However, around the same time there was a Constitutional Court ruling stating that it was unconstitutional for a judge to head a unit like the Heath Special Investigating Unit.

The Constitutional Court also recommended that the unit be phased out over a year *1. Woods said they were satisfied that the judgment at this stage did not bar them from asking the Heath unit to investigate.

In January 2001, Woods received a letter signed by Zuma. It was signed in his capacity as head of government business, and stated that there was no need for the Heath unit to investigate.

Woods said: "I was fairly alarmed. To get a letter this strongly worded and hostile was intimidating ...

"I found it strange that it was written by Zuma, because government took the decision about the arms deal before 1999 ... Zuma had not been involved in the arms deal."

Woods said it was highly possible the Zuma letter could have been written on behalf of the government, but questioned its tone.

"I found Zuma's response sarcastic, contrived and spurious. In my 11 years in parliament, no member of the executive has responded to me in this way.

"It is most unusual that a letter like this would be seen, read and approved by the president," Woods said.

With acknowledgement to Estelle Ellis and The Star.

*1 I'm not so sure that the Constitutional Court recommended that the unit be phased out over a year. They recommended that the head of the unit be replaced by a non-judge within a year.

But what did The Great One do, he took a successful, independent anti-corruption unit and placed it under the authority of a Deputy Director of the National Prosecuting Authority who was not only an ANC party hack, but already head of the largely unsuccessful (at least until then) Asset Forfeiture Unit - viva, Party, viva.