The Democratic Alliance has asked the public protector to investigate allegations that the former chief of acquisitions for the multibillion-rand arms deal, Chippy Shaik, received a $3-million (about R21-million) bribe from German arms manufacturer ThyssenKrupp.

The allegations were made in the latest edition of the German publication 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 spokesperson 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 nonexistent mailbox company called 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.

It further said the investigation had uncovered company memos describing how Shaik met representatives from ThyssenKrupp in 1998, and requested a $3-million bribe.

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 South African government into question, but there were numerous, broader implications for South Africa's arms procurement policy, in this regard, Trent said.

With acknowledgement to Sapa and The Star.