Former prosecutions head Bulelani Ngcuka denied on Monday having promised politician and convicted fraudster Tony Yengeni a maximum R5 000 fine in exchange for a guilty plea.

"This is a distorted version of the truth," the former national director of public prosecutions turned businessman said through spokesman Sipho Ngwema.

"It is going to be exposed in court as a contrived version."

Yengeni claims in a sworn affidavit before the Pretoria High Court that Ngcuka reneged on a deal struck between the two of them and former Justice Minister Penuell Maduna at the latter's Johannesburg home in January 2003.

It was agreed that he would plead guilty to the lesser of the charges against him, Yengeni, a former African National Congress chief whip, states in a revised notice of appeal.

"I accepted the arrangement even though I still felt that I was innocent of all the charges," he says. "I was satisfied that an agreement had been reached which would prevent a protracted trial."

But prosecutors pressed for a heavy sentence - resulting in his four-year jail term, Yengeni claims. He accuses Ngcuka of never intending to honour "the agreement".

According to Ngwema, Ngcuka has confirmed that a meeting took place between himself, Maduna and Yengeni. Yengeni raised the possibility of a plea and the principle of the matter was discussed.

The details of the deal were worked out between the prosecution and defence teams.

Ngcuka denied making any deals himself, Ngwema said. "He could not have done that. It was not within his powers.

"The most puzzling thing is why it has taken two years for Mr Yengeni to come up with this distorted version?"

The Democratic Alliance described Yengeni's claims as "another hint of special deals for the ANC elite".

If true, was it done to protect the ANC from embarrassment?, it asked.

"Was it simply the ANC elite looking after one of their own to the extent of trying to save him from jail?"

The new head of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), Vusi Pikoli, should clarify exactly what happened, the DA said.

An NPA spokesman could not be reached for comment - nor could Maduna, who was said to be out of the country.

In his affidavit, Yengeni says he attended a meeting of ANC officials in February 2003 to raise his concerns about Ngcuka's "conduct".

At that meeting, Maduna confirmed the existence of an agreement with Yengeni and suggested Ngcuka was not keeping his end of the bargain out of concern for his public integrity.

"It was agreed that Dr Maduna would meet with Mr Ngcuka to discuss the matter and insure (sic) that the agreement be implemented," the affidavit states.

"Despite the aforegoing, I can only draw the inference that Mr Ngcuka defied the agreement confirmed by Mr Maduna, reached at the meeting with the ANC officials."

Yengeni says he only considered pleading guilty because financial constraints would not have allowed him to fund a protracted trial.

"After the agreement was entered into between Mr Ngcuka, Minister Maduna and myself, I felt that I had no other option but to plead guilty to a watered down charge to dispose of the matter.

"I verily believed that I would receive a fine not exceeding R5 000."

Yengeni was sentenced in March 2003 after pleading guilty to defrauding -arliament by failing to disclose a nearly 50-percent discount he received on a luxury 4X4 Mercedes Benz.

The car deal was arranged by a representative of a bidder in government's arms acquisition process. Yengeni was then the chairman of parliament's joint standing committee on defence, which oversaw the arms deal.

Yengeni resigned as an MP two weeks before he was sentenced, and is out on R10 000 bail.

The initial appeal lodged with the high court was only against the "harsh and severe" sentence. On the amended documents, he is now also asking for the conviction to be set aside.

Yengeni maintains that his failure to declare the discount was "only a breach of a parliamentary rule and did not constitute a criminal offence".

No date has been set for the appeal to be heard.

With acknowledgements to Mariette le Roux, Sapa and Independent Online.