Publication: Sunday Times Issued: Date: 2006-07-09 Reporter: Wisani wa ka Ngobeni Reporter: Dumisane Lubisi Reporter: Dominic Mahlangu

Scorpions Clear the President

 

Publication 

Sunday Times

Date

2006-07-09

Reporter

 Wisani wa ka Ngobeni
Dumisane Lubisi
Dominic Mahlangu

Web Link

www.sundaytimes.co.za

 

The Scorpions investigative unit has confirmed that it has information linking President Thabo Mbeki to a French defence company implicated in arms-deal corruption, but says it has no evidence of wrongdoing on his part *1*2.

Mbeki, who was deputy president at the time, allegedly met executives of Thomson-CSF in Paris in 1998. The company, now known as Thales, was bidding for a stake in the multibillion-rand arms deal.

Mbeki chaired a ministerial subcommittee responsible for approving the defence acquisition packages. His meetings with Thales’s top executives raise conflict-of-interest questions.

Mbeki allegedly met executives of Thales and its South African subsidiary, Thint, to discuss matters relating to the awarding of the corvette combat-suite contract and the defence company’s black-empowerment structure.

Makhosini Nkosi, NPA spokesman, yesterday said the Scorpions had found “no evidence of any wrongdoing by President Mbeki”.

He said Mbeki had never been the subject of an investigation by the Scorpions as this was not “warranted”. Mbeki said last year that he could “not recall” whether he had met Thint executives while he was still deputy president.

The NPA’s confirmation comes as German prosecuting authorities probe allegations of bribery in the arms deal.

And Thint is facing corruption charges in the Durban High Court alongside former deputy president Jacob Zuma.

Nkosi said the documents linking Mbeki to Thales became part of the court record during the fraud and corruption trial of Schabir Shaik, Zuma’s former financial adviser.

Shaik was found guilty of corruption for soliciting a R500000-a-year bribe for Zuma from Thint.

A consortium involving Thint and Shaik’s company, Nkobi Holdings, won a R1.3-billion tender for the supply of combat suites in the naval corvettes.

In convicting Shaik, the Durban High Court found that Thint had offered Zuma the money in exchange for his “protection” during a probe into the multibillion-rand arms acquisition.

Zuma has denied any wrongdoing.

The ANC deputy president has vowed to reveal all at his corruption trial, which has been set for July 31, but which may be postponed until February next year.

With acknowledgements to Wisani wa ka Ngobeni, Dumisane Lubisi, Dominic Mahlangu and Sunday Times.


*1       Not so sure about this.

It just cannot be right for the Chairman of the Ministers Committee to be meeting secretly with a foreign armaments equipment potential sub-contractor (which was Thomson-CSF's status at that time), in the middle of extremely sensitive negotiations between the Joint Project Team (DoD, SA Navy and Armscor) and Thomson.

If it's not right then it is wrongdoing.

Section 217 of the Constitution would make it unlawful, possibly criminal.

And Mbeki did not secretly meet Thomson-CSF just once in December 1998, but probably three to four times between June 1998 and June 1999.

Thomson had allocated at least 5% of the combat suite price of R2,6 billion for commissions and it is not beyond the bounds to possibility that these were used as both a please and a thank you for being awarded the contract, especially a big thank you for being awarded it without any competition - just a little bit of negotiation where the French managed to get the price up from R1,8 billion to R2,6 billion and supply about half of the stipulated equipment.

Bravo Thabo.

But brave Thabo hasn't thus been able to remember this series of meetings with Thomson-CSF, despite these having previously been confirmed by members of this office and there being a wad of documents, both secret and not secret to support there having taken place.

One of these secret Thomson documents refers to Mbebi "being ready to guarantee Thomson the contract for the corvette's combat management system and its sensors". But there was still a year of contract negotiation ahead. If such a guarantee was made, it was certainly unlawful, indeed it must be criminal.

Thabo's strategy has obviously been that because he wasn't sure of the lawfulness of the meetings, he would conveniently forget them until his handpicked successor for Bulelani proclaimed the meetings not to be wrongful.

So when Zuma and Thint call Mbeki to the witness stand during their upcoming trial, suddenly the amnesia will vapourise (otherwise his credibility will be diddly squat) and he will have clearance from the NPA that his actions were not wrongful.


*2      The NPA seems to be leaving of the possibility of there being wrongdoing on some else's part - Barbara Masekela, Jurgen Kogl, Thomson-CSF?