Kasrils, Lekota to testify on arms deal |
Publication |
Sunday Times |
Date | 2014-06-01 |
Reporter |
Simpiwe Piliso |
Web Link | www.timeslive.co.za |
FORMER cabinet ministers
Ronnie Kasrils
(intelligence) and
Mosiuoa Lekota (defence)
will appear before the
Seriti commission of
inquiry into the 1999
arms deal tomorrow and
on Tuesday.
Commission spokesman
William Baloyi said they
would be “questioned
about their roles in the
arms deal during their
tenure”.
The commission, set up
by President Jacob Zuma
in 2011 and headed by
Judge Willie Seriti, is
tasked with
investigating alleged
corruption in the
multibillion-rand deal.
The government acquired,
among other military
items, frigates and
submarines for the navy
and 26 Gripen fighter
aircraft and 24 Hawk
trainer aircraft for the
air force.
Former finance minister
Trevor Manuel and former
president Thabo Mbeki
are scheduled to give
their testimonies next
week.
It emerged this week
that Britain’s Financial
Reporting Council has
closed its investigation
into the deal, giving
reprieve to a host of
South African companies,
businessmen and
politicians who
allegedly pocketed
bribes.
The council was
probing advice given by
financial services firm
KPMG to BAE Systems,
which supplied the
trainer jets.
The council’s audit,
which began examining
KPMG’s confidential
records in 2010,
was expected to disclose
the names of influential
individuals who helped
BAE in exchange for cash.
Just months before the
audit, Anwar Dramat,
then chief of the
directorate of priority
crimes investigation
(Hawks), told parliament
that it would cost too
much to pursue an
investigation into
corruption in the arms
deal.
However, the
investigation in the UK
started with the council
scrutinising KPMG’s
professional services
and audits between 1997
and 2007 relating to
commissions paid by BAE
to third-party agents
and companies.
BAE reportedly set up
a
system of offshore,
anonymous companies
to funnel payments
around the world.
With acknowledgement
to Simpiwe Piliso
and Sunday Times.
For sport lovers on the
aircraft side this is
about the sum total of
it.
Dawie Griesel, Erich
Esterhuyse (both top
managers of Armscor at
the time) and Lt Gen
Pierre Steyn (the
accounting officer of
the DoD) have clearly
painted the picture of
how Joe Modise and
Chippy Shaik put the
irregular mechanisms in
place to make the Arms
Deal happen.
That is especially on
the aircraft side.
The British Serious
Fraud Squad has
investigated the case
and effectively
concluded that there was
corruption on a massive
scale, mostly by British
Aerospace, but also by
Saab.
But the SFO declined to
prosecute.
On the South African
side Menzi Simelane,
first as DJ of Justice
and then the Director of
National Prosecutions
interfered with the
SFO's and Scorpions
joint investigation.
That is why the
investigation collapsed.
On the corvette and
corvette combat suit
side I have worked out
most of the similar
shenanigans, starting at
the Mbeki/Modise/Shaik
levels and implemented
down the line and
reported this to both
the Constitutional Court
in the form of a formal
affidavit and to the
Arms Procurement
Commission in the form
of a comprehensive, but
draft, Witness
Statement.
One of their lackeys
went ape shit this week
in this regard.
After several deep
breaths of fresh valley
air, it is all quite
amusing.
It reminds of Sir
William's Macbeth :
There would have been a time for such a word.
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
But Macbeth is just a
simple moffie by
comparison to this noisy
and perjurious idiot.
And unlike Macbeth's
poor player this one
will be heard of more a
plenty.
For the sports lovers on the corvette side there will be plenty more.