The DA has asked the Public Protector to investigate allegations that the former chief of acquisitions for the multi-billion rand arms deal, Chippy Shaik, received a $3 million bribe from German arms manufacturer ThyssenKrupp.

The allegations were made in the latest edition of the German news magazine Der Spiegel. ThyssenKrupp supplied corvettes to South Africa as part of the deal.

"The arms deal ghost continues to haunt the South African government," DA spokesman Eddie Trent said yesterday.

The DA had repeatedly stated that the only solution was for President Thabo Mbeki to establish a judicial commission of inquiry, separate from the executive.

Mbeki's failure to do so meant the party was forced to use those other institutions, designed to protect the public from abuse by state officials, to get to the bottom of the arms deal, Trent said.

In a letter to Public Protector Lawrence Mushwana, Trent said that, according to Der Spiegel, the bribe was allegedly paid to Shaik via a non-existent mailbox company, Merian Ltd, in April 2000.

Der Spiegel claimed to have internal documents belonging to ThyssenKrupp, which revealed that the company apparently deposited the money into a London bank account.

Trent said if the allegation was correct, and Shaik did benefit from a bribe, not only did it bring the sale of the corvettes by ThyssenKrupp to the SA government into question, but there were broader implications for South Africa's arms procurement policy. 

With acknowledgements to Sapa and Cape Times.