The London home and the offices of an arms broker linked to a supplier in South Africa's multi-billion rand arms deal have been raided by Britain's Serious Fraud Office.

The Guardian newspaper said the raids were part of a probe into corruption allegations against Britain's biggest military hardware exporter, BAE Systems. It said John Bredenkamp, who it named as BAE's agent in southern Africa, was understood to have received large sums in confidential "commission payments" for various deals.

But it also quoted "sources close to Bredenkamp" as denying that he played any role in the South African arms deal, and that the search warrant related to a Bredenkamp-controlled company with which BAE had dealings.

In 2003 the Guardian reported that BAE, which is Britain's biggest weapons manufacturer, paid millions of pounds in secret commissions to obtain a huge UK taxpayer-backed contract to sell Hawk jets to South Africa.

Britain's department of trade and industry admitted it did not know who was to receive the money, despite providing loan guarantees.

South Africa's fighter jet procurement plan is shared between BAE and its partner Saab. BAE has so far delivered 10 Hawk jet trainer aircraft to the SA Air Force, and will supply seven more in the next 10 months. A total of 24 have been ordered. 

With acknowledgements to Sapa and Cape Times.