de Lille Won't Name Her Arms Deal Informers [The Natal Witness, 2004-12-01]

Publication	The Natal Witness
Date	2004-12-01
Web Link	www.witness.co.za

Independent Democrats leader Patricia de Lille on Tuesday told the Durban High Court that after she blew the whistle on alleged irregularities in the country's multi-billion rands arms deal, what followed was more an interest in who her informers were than "the substance of the allegations".

De Lille entered the witness box at the Schabir Shaik fraud and corruption trial to detail her "attack on corruption" after she received a phone call and later documents from "concerned South Africans", who wanted her to take their claims of corruption in the arms deal to Parliament.

She told the court that after she brought the claims to the attention of Parliament on September 21, 1999, there was more an interest in "who gave me the information rather than the substance of the allegations".

She even declined to reveal the names of her informers when Mosiuoa Lekota called for it at a parliamentary session.

When asked if her informers were aggrieved parties who were not favoured in arms deal, De Lille said all she knew was that they were "concerned South Africans".

De Lille entered the arms deal spotlight when she decided to use "Parliament to raise the irregularities publicly for the first time".

"My role was merely to pass the information on and hope and pray that it would be properly investigated and have its day in court. I wanted to assist government to root out the few bad apples," she explained.

Shaik's advocate Francois van Zyl, who has to prove that Shaik did not solicit an annual R500 000 bribe from French arms company Thomson-CSF to Deputy President Jacob Zuma for protection from the investigations into the arms deal, opposed the state's decision to call De Lille to testify in the trial.

He told the court that not only was her evidence based on hearsay but the document which details the alleged irregularities points a finger at a number of people and companies and could be defamatory.

Prosecutor Billy Downer argued that the state did not rely on the truth of the document but "seeks to prove that the allegations did take place".

Furthermore, Downer explained, the documents were not secretive as De Lille's informers released the information to the press a day after presenting them to her.

Judge Hillary Squires allowed De Lille to testify but only in relation to Shaik, Zuma and Thomson-CSF.

De Lille told the court her efforts to "find the truth" included asking Cabinet to order a commission of inquiry into the arms deal which was refused *1.

Subsequently she approached the Special Investigations Unit, headed by Judge Willem Heath, as it was the "correct unit to properly investigate the allegations".

"I approached them because they have got a record of very good results. They also have the legal power to cancel contracts if corruption was found," she explained.

The unit did not receive the presidential proclamation it needed to launch the investigation and was disbanded after a Constitutional Court judgment.

The investigation was dealt with by the National Prosecuting Agency, the Auditor-General and the Public Prosecutor.

Outside court, De Lille told journalists that she was happy that after four years of abuse, her documents were taken seriously.

She said the dossier's work is not done. It has led to the conviction of Tony Yengeni, prompted the Schabir Shaik trial and will lead to more convictions.

After De Lille's testimony, IFP MP and Scopa chairman Gavin Woods returned to the witness box where he told the court about a "mysterious, rude and sarcastic" letter that Zuma wrote to him in his capacity as the "Leader of Government Business".

In the letter, Zuma advises Woods that there "is no need for the Heath Unit to be involved in any investigation of the defence acquisition" and that Scopa should abandon attempts for the unit to be part of the investigation.

Woods on Tuesday told the court he was very alarmed to receive a strongly worded letter from Zuma. On Monday, Woods told the court that Shaik's brother, who was then the Chief Procurement Officer, lied to Scopa about his involvement in the arms deal.

*1 The only logical conclusion of this is that members of the Cabinet had their snouts deep in the trough - Say it Ain't So, Joe *2, inter alia.