The multibillion rand arms deal signed in December of 1999 was supposed to generate investments of worth over R104 billion and create 65 000 jobs. But it has been dogged by allegations of bribery and corruption.

The Auditor-General Shauket Fakie, compiled a special report which looked into the selection process. Fakie called for a special forensic audit into the deal.

One of the complainants was Richard Young of a technology company known as C²I² and Isaac Masemola has more on this story :

The deal involved firms from Germany, Italy, Sweden, Britain, France and South Africa. This included top names in the arms trade such as Sweden's SAAB, British BAE Systems and France's Thompson-CSF. But there were also smaller companies that handed in their bid. Not all of them were going to be awarded contracts, some of those who lost out, complained that the selection process was flawed and the Auditor-General's report partly vindicated them.

This led to government deciding to open public hearings on the matter. Young was among those who testified at the hearings. He testified about alleged irregularities in the awarding of the R40 million tender for information management systems used in four corvettes this country bought as part of the arms package.

He claimed that his company had been named the preferred supplier of the systems. He claimed there were irregularities and political interference in the selection process. He applied for documentation used during the hearings in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act. He took the matter to the Pretoria High Court and won.

But the Auditor General Shauket Fakie appealed against the ruling. Fakie this week announced that he was withdrawing his appeal. He explains why : "No interpretation initially of the court order was that we had to give Young everything and we had some concerns around that order and therefore we put in a leave to appeal. With our senior counsel having discussed the matter with Rogers (which is the senior counsel of Richard Young), there was a common understanding of what the court order stated. In other words, the court order said that I've still got to apply my mind in terms of the documents that I can make available to Richard Young. So I have still got to go through the documents, look at what is sensitive, look at what is confidential..."

Fakie said there are about 700 000 pages and they will have to employ more people to ensure that they meet the stipulated 40 court days to execute the order. He said his withdrawal of the appeal does not mean that Young will get all the papers :

"There may have been some documents that could be a borderline case and, you know, with the undertaking that, you know, I give the assurance that it is not made public, I would have considered otherwise. But I'll have to look at each document on its merit and consider the undertaking that I got from Richard Young and decide what I can or can't make available to him..."

Young is elated but says it's early days to say he is vindicated. He said this could be the beginning of getting more information as to how the selection process was conducted. He tells what he is going to do with the documents :

"The first thing we want, is to ensure that a proper forensic investigation was actually undertaken especially by the Auditor-General. The reason why we want to check that out, is because it is obvious to us that when the Auditor-General produced a special review he brought up a particular matter involving my case and it is obvious that that particular matter did not enjoy a proper investigation in the final joint investigation and report..."

Richard Young of C²I² ending that report by Isaac Masemola in Pretoria.

With acknowledgements to Isaac Masemola and SAfm.