Johannesburg - President Thabo Mbeki faces possibly the most embarrassing showdown of his political career today when Democratic Alliance Member of Parliament Eddie Trent asks whether or not he co-operated with the Joint Investigations Team of the Auditor General, Scorpions and Public Protector that investigated the controversial R60 billion arms deal.

The Citizen can reveal that on at least three occasions, official investigators probing the arms deal - and suspicious of Mbeki's role in the deal - approached the presidency seeking to question Mbeki over several aspects of the deal.

On every occasion Mbeki is alleged to have simply ignored or rebuffed approaches from investigators.

Trent yesterday told The Citizen that he would be submitting a written question to Mbeki this morning.

Said Trent: "I will be asking the President whether or not he was approached by any official investigator probing the arms deal, and whether or not he offered his full assistance and cooperation to them.

"If this assistance was not extended to investigators I will be asking why it was not."

Trent told The Citizen that he had been told by two separate, extremely reliable, sources that Mbeki had stonewalled investigators, refusing to assist them with their enquiries.

The final draft of the arms deal investigation report which was released to Parliament, as well as draft copies of this report, give no indication that Mbeki - the most important man in the arms deal - was ever interviewed.

Trent's questions come in the wake of the Sunday Times yesterday revealing that business tycoon Tokyo Sexwale had told the ANC National Executive Committee that Mbeki needed to take the ANC into his confidence and tell the party everything he knows about the deal.

Sexwale was quoted as saying he was especially keen on hearing Mbeki address claims that were made in the Mail & Guardian that German shipbuilders paid him a massive bribe in return for a guarantee that they be awarded the contract to supply new frigates to the Navy.

On February 28 The Citizen submitted written questions to the Directorate of Special Operations (DSO) of the National Prosecuting Authority - the Scorpions - as to whether or not they had been denied access to Mbeki during their investigation into the arms deal.

The query was not answered and representatives of the DSO were not available at the time of going to press.

In a statement issued yesterday Trent said that: "In light of the continuing mud-slinging within ANC circles around the arms deal" it was time that a judicial commission of enquiry into alleged corruption around the arms deal be appointed.

Said Trent: "The need to do so is made even more pressing given that allegations regarding President Mbeki's own involvement alleged in wrongdoing are starting to mount.

"If the President does not act decisively there is every chance that his own credibility, the integrity of the presidency and, last but by no means least, the reputation of the country could be fatally undermined."

Trent continued: "It is obvious that the motivation of senior ANC NEC members such as Tokoyo Sexwale to demand the truth about the President's involvement in wrongdoing associated with the arms deal, has nothing to do with a genuine desire to get to the truth, but it is rather a convenient way to settle long standing political grievances against Mbeki."

Trent has been a thorn in Mbeki's side for some time.

While acting as Deputy President to Nelson Mandela, Mbeki was in overall charge of the entire arms deal process.

Documents accepted as evidence during the trial of convicted fraudster Schabir Shaik suggest that Mbeki had at least three secret meetings with Thint, the French arms company that is alleged to have bribed deputy president Jacob Zuma.

In terms of tender regulations such meetings would have been highly irregular and almost certainly illegal *1.

With acknowledgements to Paul Kirk and The Citizen.