Tony Yengeni finally goes to jail after eight years of lies, evasions and cover-ups.

Colleagues in Europe have said that South Africans have achieved far more in exposing corruption in the arms industry than have Europeans or Americans. Kickbacks from arms exports fund European political parties.

The British and South African governments were asked in 1998 to investigate allegations in parliament that Yengeni was a recipient of a £1 million "first success fee" from BAE Systems.

\An extra R30m was alleged to have been routed via two Swedish trade unions to bribe other politicians.

The eventual response from the British was that it was not illegal under British law to bribe foreigners, and therefore there was no crime to investigate.

Many more twists in the arms deal scandal in Europe and SA have yet to be revealed.

British researchers estimate the alleged bribes for the BAE warplane contracts were about £160m (about R2 billion).

It is unlikely the Germans and French were less generous for the warship contracts.

With acknowledgment to Terry Crawford-Browne and Cape Times.