Arms Deal Report Sanitised by State - DA |
Publication | Pretoria News |
Date |
2005-03-31 |
Reporter |
Angela Quintal |
Web Link |
Former defence secretary Pierre Steyn should be called to testify before Parliament's watchdog public accounts committee in the light of "new evidence" that the arms deal report may have been sanitised by the executive, the DA said yesterday.
The DA's call for the Standing Committee on Public Accounts to discuss the latest allegations will be discussed at the committee's meeting next Wednesday, Scopa chairman Francois Beukman (NNP) said yesterday.
Asked whether Scopa was likely to re-open the investigation, Beukman said he did not want to pre-empt Wednesday's discussion.
However, there was precedent from the previous Parliament where Scopa had decided that any further allegations of irregularities would not be dealt with by the committee, but forwarded to the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Yesterday, the DA quoted from the transcript of Steyn's evidence to arms deal investigators in August 2001, and said the exclusion of his "damning criticisms" raised serious questions about the draft joint investigating team report.
Steyn quit his job prematurely in 1998. He had questioned the legal basis for embarking on the arms deal. He argued that the procurement process was riddled with large-scale irregularities.
He was also appalled by an investigation that was designed to give legitimacy to "political manipulation" and argued that the decision to select BAE/Saab as a preferred bidder for the jet trainer and fighter aircraft had been taken in advance.
Steyn had also stated that the arms bought were fundamentally flawed and that the Defence Force would not be able to maintain them.
DA MP Eddie Trent said it was a case of "the chickens coming home to roost", given that the Defence Department's (DoD) chief director for strategic management Antonie Visser had told MPs in February that the SANDF needed R120-million to put to use the new hardware acquired under the arms deal.
Visser said the SANDF lacked staff who had the technical know-ledge to operate the new systems.
According to the transcript, Steyn told investigators it was irregular to consider a non-costed option for the Hawk jets.
"How on earth can you convince the public that you will acquire an expensive system and damn the cost," the transcript reads.
In an apparent reference to then defence minister Joe Modise, Steyn said: "The minister said we must not be in a hurry and it is wrong for us to let people know that we cannot pay for the packages.
"As an accounting officer I was appalled. The capacity of the DoD to man and operate these defence systems, once procured, is important. What is the purpose of spending R30-billion and you cannot operate them? We cannot even operate what we have got," Steyn said.
Among the allegations made in the initial draft JIT reports was that Modise had personally influenced the decision to opt for the Hawks as opposed to the Italian jet favoured by the Air Force.
In the final JIT report, after input from cabinet ministers, investigators said they could not find any evidence that any individual cabinet minister had influenced the decision-making process.
The issue of two sets of minutes was again raised yesterday.
Trent said that the final JIT report had included mention of a memorandum from Steyn to then chief of acquisitions Chippy Shaik in which Steyn questioned the accuracy of the minutes that a decision was taken to choose the Hawk/ Gripen option.
The alternative set of minutes was not signed off by members of that committee and had not accurately reflected the discussion.
Alleged government interference in the drafting of the JIT report has been repeatedly made over the years and resulted in Auditor-General Shauket Fakie appearing before Scopa in 2003.
He said he had "made no changes to the draft JIT report under pressure from the executive".
"The challenge now is for Parliament to ensure both the executive and the A-G are made to account for their conduct in the arms deal," Trent said yesterday.
With acknowledgements to Angela Quintal and the Pretoria News.