President
Thabo Mbeki faces an
awkward trip to the World Cup
this weekend. The focus of questions about the 1999 arms deal has shifted
squarely onto him, with German investigators pursuing
allegations that massive kickbacks were paid to help secure the contract to
supply warships to the South African navy.
Prosecuting authorities in
Dusseldorf are looking into about R140-million in bribes allegedly paid by
bidders in the German Frigate Consortium, which has denied any
wrongdoing.
German news magazine
Der Spiegel broke the news of the
investigation on Monday, a fortnight after raids were conducted on offices of
consortium members Thyssen Rheinstaal Tecknik and Homwaldswerke-Deutsche
Werft.
A part of the investigation, the
Mail & Guardian
understands, derives from unsubstantiated
allegations
directed at Mbeki himself in a letter sent to German authorities in
2001.
The disclosures will add to pressure on the president
regarding his own role in the defence acquisition process, which up to now has
hinged on his
amnesia about meetings he might have
had with representatives of the French defence company Thales during the bid
negotiation process.
According to
Der Spiegel, one strand of the
German investigation flows from “as yet unproven” claims that “a top South
African politician had received a payment in the high millions via a Swiss bank
account for his help in facilitating the deal”.
The allegation was made
in a letter from a South African citizen received by the prosecutor’s office in
2001.
A well-informed German source told the
M&G the letter alleged a meeting took place in Geneva in or around
1999, during which cash was handed over by a middleman operating on behalf of
Thyssen.
According to people in South Africa and Germany familiar
with the circumstances, the letter was sent by Nicholas Achterberg, a shadowy
Johannesburg businessman who has strong German connections.
The politician he supposedly implicated was Mbeki.
A
former business partner, who asked not to be named, confirmed that he knew about
Achterberg’s letter. He said the allegations made in the letter stemmed from an
alcohol-fuelled conversation over lunch between Achterberg, Philippe Muller,
who headed a Thyssen subsidiary in South Africa at the time, and an
unidentified Frenchman.
It was not possible to trace
Achterberg, who is said to be living on a yacht in the Caribbean, but he did
have a business relationship with the Thyssen group.
A spokesperson for
Thyssen Krupp Marine Systems in South Africa confirmed that Muller had headed
one of the conglomerate’s companies in South Africa, and that he had had
dealings with Achterberg involving metals trading.
Thyssen
now believes Achterberg owes it large sums of money raising the
possibility that Achterberg’s
claims were motivated by
malice.
Thyssen Krupp “has substantial claims against Achterberg
arising from those deals”, the spokesperson said, stressing that Muller had
“absolutely nothing to do with the Corvettes [the frigates] whatsoever”. Muller
has since left the company.
Presidential communications boss Murphy
Morobe said he knew nothing about the letter or the investigation other than
what had appeared in
Der Spiegel and on German television.
Of
Achterberg’s claims he said: “
He should have gone to the
police in South Africa, there have been investigations into this issue
for some years.” Mbeki would not be discussing the allegations with German
Chancellor Angela Merkel, Morobe said, adding: “There is nothing really new
there.”
But that claim is belied by the main
allegations reported by
Der Spiegel.
The magazine left little room
for doubt over whether kickbacks were paid: “
The
investigators know that certain so-called UEs were paid in the course of the
Corvette deal,” it said. “UE is an abbreviation for ‘useful expenditure’
and
refers to bribes paid to foreign companies *1 and
declared as tax deductible until the practice became punishable under German law
in February 1999.”
Der Speigel says the investigation of the South
African deal flowed from an earlier investigation into “useful expenditure”
claimed by Thyssen on the sale of armoured vehicles to Saudi Arabia.
Tax
investigators then also examined other Thyssen affiliates. In the process they
ascertained that the company had included similar payments
in the balance sheet for the Corvette deal.
Thyssen Krupp,
however, said in a statement that it was confident that “the investigations will
not confirm the suspicions regarding the illegal payment of
commission”.
But the German investigation is likely to prompt renewed
scrutiny of the Corvette deal and Mbeki’s role during the bids.
In
January 1995, then deputy president Mbeki visited Germany, a month after Armscor
had announced that it was considering buying warships from either the Scottish
shipyard Yarrow, or Spanish firm Bazan.
A German consortium involving
Thyssen was out of the running. But Mbeki told Klaus Kinkel, the German foreign
minister, and members of the consortium that the race was still open. This time
the Germans were shortlisted.
That tender was ultimately abandoned in
favour of a more comprehensive package, and the Germans were once again among
the bidders, ultimately winning the R4,3-billion Corvette platform contract in
1998.
According to the auditor general’s Joint Investigation Team’s
report on the procurement process, however, they had failed to meet tender
specificiations: “With the exception of Bazan all the bidders failed to comply
with the minimum evaluation criteria in respect of financing, technical
requirements, and Defence Industrial Participation,” the report said.
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