Publication	The Mercury
Date	2006-07-10
Reporter	Sapa
Web Link	www.themercury.co.za

JOHANNESBURG: The had government conducted its multimillion-rand arms deal by the book, President Thabo Mbeki told SABC radio news yesterday.

Responding to allegations of bribery and corruption, he said the government was clear of any wrongdoing.

While Mbeki welcomed any investigation into the matter, he believed the conclusion would not differ from that of Auditor-General Shauket Fakie's, who has exonerated the government.

Mbeki's remarks came amid a probe into the bribery allegations by German prosecutors.

The Scorpions announced yesterday that they had found no evidence implicating Mbeki himself in alleged irregularities.

However, they did have information linking him to a French defence company that was implicated.

The Sunday Times reported that Mbeki met executives of Thomson-CSF (now called Thales) in Paris while he served as deputy president in 1998, and it bid for a stake in the deal.

He met Thales and their 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.

Thint is facing corruption charges along with former deputy president Jacob Zuma. The case is scheduled to start in KwaZulu-Natal at the end of the month.

At the time of his meeting with Thales executives, Mbeki chaired a ministerial subcommittee responsible for approving the defence acquisition package.

Impropriety

While the Sunday Times claimed the talks raised conflict-of-interest questions, National Prosecuting Authority spokesman Makhosini Nkosi told the newspaper no evidence had been found of impropriety by Mbeki.

He had never been the subject of an investigation, as this was not warranted, Nkosi said.

The Sunday Times reported that Mbeki had last year claimed he could "not recall" whether he had met Thint executives while he was deputy president.

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