Failure to disclose information on investigations into allegations of bribery against Shamin "Chippy" Shaik by the Public Protector reflected badly on the country's reputation, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Sunday.

"This lack of transparency and progress in this regard does not reflect well and can only harm our reputation abroad," said the opposition party's Arms Deal spokesman Eddie Trent. His statement followed a request made by the DA to Public Protector Lawrence Mushwana in February, asking for a full investigation into the Shaik issue. Since then, Mushwana's office, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and Auditor General, Terence Nombembe met to discuss the possibility of a joint investigation into the new allegations of corruption around the multi-billion rand arms deal. Mushwana's office said the allegations would not be jointly investigated by the three state agencies but would be dealt with separately in terms of each institution's mandate.

The DA then requested to be provided with a comprehensive update on the status of the investigations. "It is in the public interest that the investigation process be transparent and swift and that the public be kept informed of the investigation's progress," Trent said. "I made this request in a letter to the Public Protector's office last week." Mushwana's spokesman Charles Phahlane said he was not aware of a letter sent by the DA on the matter. "I wasn't aware of such a letter by Thursday. If they did send it, I'll find it and will respond to them."

He said when Mushwana made an announcement that the Shaik matter would be investigated separately by three bodies, he had indicated that a report regarding a decision to investigate would only be released either towards the end of April or beginning of May. Shaik, brother of convicted fraudster, Schabir Shaik, was allegedly paid a US3 million (about R21 million) bribe by one of the arms deal bidding companies, Germany's Der Spiegel Magazine recently reported. According to the magazine, internal documents of Thyssen Krupp, a German company that supplied the South African Navy with four Frigates, has revealed that Shaik had requested the bribe in 1998.

The company apparently deposited the money to a non-existant company in London in 2000. Shaik was head of procurement at the defence department in the arms deal at the time. South African authorities were coming under increased pressure from law enforcement agencies in Sweden, Germany and Britain to assist with the investigation into allegations that several South Africans were paid to secure deals during the arms deal bidding process.

With acknowledgements to Sapa.