GERMAN authorities and the Hawks are
in possession of a signed agreement in
which a German arms dealer agreed to pay
a bribe to a group represented by Chippy
Shaik.
Shaik was working for the Defence
Department at the time as chief of
acquisitions for the arms deal.
A source revealed yesterday that apart
from Shaik, another 21
politically-connected South Africans
allegedly benefited from the German
bribe.
Hawks spokesperson Musa Zondi confirmed
to Sowetan that they were in possession
of the bribe agreement.
The source said that using this evidence
it should take just months to finalise
the investigation into the German leg of
the arms deal - and not three years as
Hawks chief Anwa Dramat claimed to
Parliament this week.
"Not only is this an easy case, but it
could net a lot of those guilty of arms
deal corruption," the source said.
"The asset forfeiture unit could even
get a lot of the money back (just like
they did with Schabir Shaik -
R40million), which at least offsets all
of or most of the costs of the case."
But Zondi differs: "Having access or
having a copy of that letter is useless
because we have not received it
officially. We have given the documents
to the National Prosecuting Authority so
that the Department of Justice can
facilitate a request for Mutual Legal
Assistance (to get the letter from
German authorities).
It
doesn't matter whether it is an accurate
copy, if you have not got it through
official channels, you cannot use it. *1"
The bribe agreement states clearly that
Spanish arms companies had offered to
sell the South African navy four
warships at 20percent less than the
German Frigate Consortium.
Shaik had to work hard to convince the
government to go with the German arms
dealers instead.
Sowetan has a copy of the English
translation of the agreement, signed by
Christoph Hoenings, then an executive at
German warship manufacturer Thyssen.
It reads: "The last trip (July 27 to 30
1998) was suggested by C. Shaikh (sic),
director Defence Secretariat. During one
of our meetings he asked once again for
explicit confirmation that the verbal
agreement made with him for payment to
be made in case of success, to him and a
group represented by him, in the amount
of $3million (about R21million)."
• In 2003 ANC member Tony Yengeni was
convicted of fraud related to the
multibillion rand arms deal after he
accepted a discount on a luxury vehicle
from one of the bidders.
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*1
If the original cannot be used, then a copy can be used.
If the Germans don't hand over the original then a copy can be used.
Even more so of the Germans don't do so it is because the RSA NPA has not requested it via formal MLA.
It is certainly more difficult, but it is nor useless at all.
But the crux of the matter is that firstly the head of the NPA withdrew the first MLA request to the Germans and secondly the NPA has never re-issued another MLA to them, despite being authorised to do so in June this year in the face of some of the most compelling evidence ever in the history of corruption jurisprudence.