Johannesburg - Johannesburg tycoon and arms trader Fana Hlongwane was allegedly seen moving what “could be evidence” out of his plush Hyde Park home hours before the Scorpions raided the house on Wednesday morning last week.

A neigbour, who will not be named, told The Citizen that Hlongwane was moving in and out of the house between 1am to 3am. This was prior to the 6am arrival of the Scorpions on the morning of the raid.

Hlongwane’s home and his business premises were among the places targeted during the Scorpions’ massive raids across the country as the investigation into SA’s controversial multi-billion rand arms deal widened.

Hlongwane’s actions were yesterday speculated to indicate that he was tipped *1 about the operation.

Hlongwane, who was ministerial adviser to the late defence minister Joe Modise, could not be reached for comment yesterday.

National Prosecuting Authority spokesman Tlali Tlali could not be drawn into commenting on the claim.

He said: “We took a decision to inform the public that various establishments would be raided. We did not disclose such houses and establishments *2,” said Tlali, refusing to comment any further.

Hlongwane’s premises in Kwazulu-Natal were also raided.

The search warrant demanded any documents indicating when exactly Hlongwane was appointed ministerial adviser to Modise, and the exact period of his employment by the defence department.

Hlongwane is a high flying businessman who owns a pool of luxury vehicles, including a Porche and a R4 million Lamborghini.

At this stage it is not clear what was seized from his properties.

The searches, carried out at seven locations in three provinces, also focused on defence multinational BAE Systems – the company that is said to have paid R1 billion in “commissions” on the deal.

With acknowledgements to Chris Bathembu and The Citizen.