Publication: Independent Online Date: 2005-12-20 Reporter: Angela Quintal Reporter:

DA Dogs Mbeki on Arms Deal

 

Publication 

Independent Online
Date

2005-12-20

Reporter

Angela Quintal

Web Link

www.iol.co.za

 

President Thabo Mbeki should come clean about his alleged meetings with top executives of a French defence company implicated in arms deal corruption.

This is what Democratic Alliance MP Eddie Trent is determined the president should do, after releasing documents which showed that Mbeki, as deputy president, had allegedly met executives of Thomson-CSF in Paris in 1998.

Thomson is now known as Thales. Its subsidiary, Thint, will be prosecuted for alleged corruption, along with Jacob Zuma, in the Durban High Court next year.

Trent believes he received a "completely unsatisfactory and obfuscatory" reply from Mbeki to a parliamentary question last week and wants more answers.

He plans to write to the president, attaching several documents that might "jog" the president's memory. If necessary, he will table another parliamentary question to the president in the new year when MPs return to parliament, Trent told The Star yesterday.

"It is inconceivable that any reasonable person should accept the president's answer, given the facts which have thus far been made public.

"We have further strong documentary evidence which we believe underpins the fact that the president did in fact meet with Thomson-CSF to discuss a particular matter concerning the awarding of the corvette combat suite contract and related issues such as BEE for the deal."

Presidential spokesperson Murphy Morobe said on Monday there was nothing more to add *1 to the reply Mbeki had given parliament.

The saga is part of a six-month battle by Trent to establish whether Mbeki - when he was still deputy president - did meet Thomson executives in Paris on or about December 17 1998.

Mbeki's long-awaited reply was buried in a slew of replies published by parliament's questions office last Thursday, a day after MPs went on their annual holiday.

"The president does not recall such a meeting," it says. "However, in the course of his duties as president of the Republic of South Africa, and previously as deputy president, the president has met and interacted with a large number of business people and representatives of business entities."

Trent's question was based on two faxes from Thomson-CSF, both of which named Mbeki. The one fax indicated Mbeki had met Thomson-CSF executives in France in December 1998. A fax to Mbeki himself was from Thomson-CSF senior vice-president B de Bollardiere, which confirmed they had met.

Mbeki was deputy president at the time and headed the ministerial committee overseeing the arms deal. The documentation is apparently part of the court documents in the Schabir Shaik trial, Trent said.

Trent said that, in addition to the two faxes, he would also send a copy of an apparent internal memo, allegedly by De Bollardiere, dated November 27 1998. The memo, on a Thomson-CSF International letter-head, is unsigned but the top right-hand corner contains the initials BPB, which Trent believes stands for Bernard Paris Bollardiere (sic - de Bollardiere *2).

The Star was not in a position to independently verify the document. It refers to Thomson's successful dealings in the civil sector, but notes it has been less successful in the South African defence industry.

It also refers to the fact that Thint "privately had access six months ago to your President (sic) T Mbeki and at that time handed him the name of partner (the company CNI) to play the 'black empowerment' role in ADS (African Defence Systems) and to thus be our political guarantee".

The memo notes that CNI declined the offer "and we are currently trying to give this role to one of the member companies of the local consortium, FBS (Futuristic Business Solutions), which seems to have received the backing of the ANC".

The memorandum, under a heading "Question to be put to Mr T Mbeki", lists four questions, including: "We have integrated the Nkobi Group (of Schabir Shaik) into our capital at the level of the Thomson-CSF holding. Is this still a good choice? And if yes, is it sufficient to comply with the black economic empowerment requirements?"

The document showed how Thomson-CSF was trying to ensure it had the right empowerment partners to receive a stake in the arms deal *3 and was looking for Mbeki's approval *4.

Johan van der Walt, a forensic auditor who testified for the state in the Shaik trial last year, has said Thomson-CSF considered political connections important to a successful bid *5, and that Shaik shared this view.

He testified then that although Nelson Mandela and Mbeki were mentioned, their involvement was limited *6 to attempts to resolve a BEE dispute involving Thomson-CSF.

With acknowledgments to Angela Quintal and Independent Online.


*1  Except the truth.

*2  Executive Director of Thomson-CSF International and previous director of Thint Holding (Southern Africa) (Pty) Ltd.

First Names  : Bernard Charles Aymard Andre
Surname  : Paris De Bollardiere
ID Number  : 411126
Birth Date  : 1941-11-26

*3  BEE was given a zero rating in the formal selection process of the Arms Deal, obviously not in the informal selection process.

*4  So much for the constitutional imperative of open, transparent, equitable, competitive and cost-effective acquisition.

So much for the Public Finance Management Act (or its predecessor).

*5  As testified by Pierre Jean-Marie Robert Moynot, previous Chief Executive Officer of African Defence Systems (Pty) Ltd ADS and present chief executive of Thint Holding (Southern Africa) (Pty) Ltd and Thint (Pty) Ltd, the informal selection process of the Arms Deal took precedence over the formal process.

*6  Not so limited.