Did he or didn't he? The DA's Eddie Trent yesterday continued his year-long campaign to get President Thabo Mbeki to say whether he met top executives of the French arms company Thomson CSF in Paris in 1998.

Now known as Thales, the company and its subsidiary, Thint, are being prosecuted for alleged corruption along with ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma.

In an interview with the Cape Argus this year, Mbeki maintained he could "honestly not recall" whether he had met the executives while he was still deputy president.

This came after his office said, in a written parliamentary reply to a question from Trent, that the president could not recall meeting representatives of Thomson on or about December 17, 1998.

"Such a simple question, Mr President; why are you unable to give the country an answer?" Trent said yesterday during the presidency budget debate.

There were several staff members and others who Mbeki could consult to jog his memory, including the SA ambassador to Paris at the time, Barbara Masekela.

Trent added that according to a fax from Thomson CSF, she had organised the meeting.

"In 1998, you were serving as the head of the ministerial committee overseeing the arms deal. A secret meeting with Thomson CSF - on the bidder for the procurement package - would have amounted to a gross violation of tender procedures," Trent said.

With acknowledgement to Angela Quintal and Cape Argus.