Judge says his probe would have discovered the real arms deal dirt

After testifying in the Schabir Shaik corruption and fraud trial in Durban, former head of the Special Investigation Unit, Judge Willem Heath, told journalists that there was a "deliberate attempt by government to keep the unit out of the [arms deal] investigation".

Heath said that the SIU's investigation would have revealed "real issues".

"There are many things we will now never know," he said.

He said the SIU's investigation would have affected the "validity of the arms procurement process" and could have stopped corrupt tenders.

Heath's brief testimony at the trial explained how the unit was refused a presidential proclamation needed to work with the National Prosecuting Authority, Public Protector and Auditor-General to investigate irregularities in the arms deal.

He told the Durban High Court that when then PAC MP Patricia de Lille informed him that she had information indicating that there may have been irregularities in the arms deal, he adopted the same procedure followed in any other investigation and applied for a proclamation.

However, Heath decided that the unit needed a substantial amount of information to warrant an investigation, as he knew that if the matter was sensitive to government, "government would be hesitant to issue the proclamation".

Heath said he followed evidence gathered by the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa), which "strengthened" his determination to "get involved".

He told the court that the SIU's investigation would have been more of a "civil matter". It was therefore imperative that the unit was part of the task team.

Heath said the four agencies agreed that there was a need for the SIU to be involved, but "all of a sudden", their views changed.

At the third meeting between the agencies, a representative from the Public Protector's office said they no longer believed that the SIU should be part of the investigations.

Afterwards the Directorate of Public Prosecutions announced that it too "no longer supported the SIU being in the investigations".

And then the Auditor-General's office issued a media statement advising that it no longer supported the SIU's participation in the investigation.

Heath told the court that "after that, there was a strong resistance against getting the proclamation".

The SIU was further affected when the Constitutional Court ruled that a judge could not head a special investigations unit.

In the end the unit was refused the proclamation and, according to Heath on Thursday, could not expose "things of substance".

After resigning from his post, Heath started a private special investigations company.

He told journalists on the courthouse steps that from the way the investigation was stopped "all I can deduce is that they have something to hide *1".

Before Heath took the stand, James van Heerden of the Auditor-General's office explained how the investigation started.

The evidence led on Thursday relates to the corruption charge against Shaik, which alleges that Shaik solicited an annual R500 000 bribe to Deputy President Jacob Zuma from French arms manufacturer Thomson-CSF in exchange for protection against the investigations.

With acknowledgements to Nivashni Nair and The Natal Witness.

*1 Now there's nowhere to hide - not even in the deep sea of corrupt fishes.