Former head of Parliament's standing committee on public accounts lifts lid on committee's concerns in arms deal

Prominent MP Gavin Woods says former arms deal procurement chief Chippy Shaik "misinformed" Parliament's standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) about having recused himself from meetings involving his brother Schabir's business interests.

Woods, an Inkatha Freedom Party MP and former chairman of Scopa, was testifying in the fraud and corruption trial of Schabir Shaik, brother of Chippy.

Outlining areas of concern that prompted the committee to support an investigation into the multi-billion rand arms deal, Woods described a possible conflict, saying in effect that Chippy Shaik had lied to the committee.

Woods told the court Chippy Shaik had "misinformed" Scopa when he said he had recused himself from meetings relating to the arms deal.

He said Chippy, the defence department's chief procurement officer, was "extremely influential" in the procurement process and that Schabir, a businessman, had an interest in the arms deal, particularly the corvette contract.

Woods said the committee had a number of concerns relating to the acquisition process and that conflict of interest because of association was one of them.

The court also heard that Alain Thetard , the South African head of French arms company Thomson-CSF, considered obliging clients who requested some cash "a normal business practice" that aided a goodwill relationship, according to the company's audit partner, Gary Parker.

Parker said Thetard "flatly denied" bribery allegations , but that there were certain circumstances where clients "asked for money".

Thetard would forward the request to his Paris headquarters *1.

Shaik has pleaded not guilty to two counts of fraud and one of corruption. The state alleges that local businessman Shaik secured a R500 000 annual bribe for Deputy President Jacob Zuma in exchange for protection against the arms deal investigations and R1,2m in payments for and on his behalf.

Parker's evidence punched holes in Shaik's plea explanation that the R250 000 Zuma received from the French arms company was a donation towards the Jacob Zuma Education Trust. The trust was established while Zuma was kwaZulu-Natal economic affairs and tourism MEC.

Parker said yesterday that during a meeting in May 2000 between himself, Thetard and Arthur Andersen audit manager David Reed, the Frenchman dismissed the bribery allegations.

Thetard's former secretary, Susan Delique, had told the auditors of her boss's R500 000-a-year agreement with Zuma. Parker said the auditors had accepted Thetard's explanation and had not further investigated Delique's claims.

In arguing his case for leading the evidence, state prosecutor Billy Downer told the court that Parker's testimony "showed common purpose" and that it implied there was a conspiracy to bribery.

Thetard was Shaik's co-conspirator, and had the auditors investigated Delique's claims the bribery could have been halted "much sooner", Downer said.

Shaik has admitted meeting Thetard and Zuma in March 2000, and Downer said that had the payment been "an innocent request for a donation", Thetard would have told the auditors.

With acknowledgements to Sapa and Business Day.

*1 Which is exactly what he did by means of the encrypted fax after receiving the pre-arranged encoded declaration (defined by him) from the beneficiary during the meeting(s) of 10/11 March 2000.

Later, once he's caught red-handed, he admits writing the hand-written draft of the fax, only to later deny he ever sent the fax saying the draft were just scriblings of disjointed thoughts (how disjointed can the following actually be : Project Sitron, R500 000 per year, until ADS starts paying dividends, protection from investigation, permanent support for Thomson projects? Sounds to me as jointed as a teenage Soviet-block Olympic gymnast).

Not on my nellie.