ONE of the arms deal’s most vocal critics has finally been subpoenaed to appear before the commission probing the controversial deal.

Activist Terry CrawfordBrowne yesterday confirmed that he had been called as a witness, but said he remained doubtful the commission would actually take off.

This comes as Judge Willie Seriti, who heads the Arms Procurement Commission, has scoffed at a suggestion that he should undergo a lie-detector test. Judge Seriti’s credibility to lead the commission was called into question by a senior investigator, who quit citing an alleged “second agenda”.

Norman Moabi, a Pretoria attorney and former acting judge, resigned early this month. He claimed the commission was being influenced by outside forces and accused Judge Seriti of playing a role in keeping him and other investigators in the dark regarding information coming in.

Crawford-Browne said he was subpoenaed on Thursday to appear before the commission on March 11. Asked whether he would appear, he said: “I think many things will still happen between now and then.”

He said the commission had lost all credibility. “We must be grateful to Mr Moabi for revealing these things that are part and parcel of a cover-up.”

Judge Seriti dismissed Moabi ’ s claims as sour grapes and said the attorney believed he should have been given a more senior role in the commission. A joint statement by the 10 evidence leaders also denied the existence of a hidden agenda and said they had confidence in Judge Seriti.

However, this prompted Moabi to write a second letter calling on them and the judge to undergo lie-detector tests ­ and offered to do the same.

Moabi took exception to their joint statement, which stated that they “have been actively and consistently encouraged to make contributions on how best the commission should achieve its mandate”.

In his latest letter, Moabi said: “I have no knowledge and/ or recollection about [this] . . . where and when did this happen and who did the encouragement? ” He also denied that “consultations and strategic planning sessions” with the team of evidence leaders had taken place.

Commission spokesman William Baloyi said Moabi’ s proposal that senior officials should undergo lie-detector tests was “unfortunate ”.

“The commission has now dealt with the matter and we are preparing for the public hearings to start in March,” Baloyi said.

With acknowledgement to Werner Swart and Sunday Times.