Pretoria: The ANC may have benefited financially from the multibillion-rand arms deal, but the ruling party cannot confirm the alleged arrangement.

In the charge sheet against Durban businessman Schabir Shaik, the Scorpions have let slip that the ANC has a 10% stake in Nkobi holdings - the company at the centre of bribery allegations and part of a consortium that won a R1.3-billion portion of the corvettes contract.

The court document says the shareholders of Nkobi Investments include a 10% stake by Floryn Investment (Pty) Ltd.

"Floryn Investments is ostensibly owned by (Shaik). (Shaik) holds the shares as nominee or cedent for the African National Congress, making the latter a 10% shareholder in Nkobi Holdings," the charge sheet says.

Other shareholders of Nkobi are Star Corp SA (Pty) (60%), Clanwest Investments (Pty) Ltd (20%) and Workers College (10%). Star Corp is wholly owned by Shaik, who also has an interest in Clanwest.

All three shareholders are registered companies, but Workers College does not appear to be registered.

Nkobi Holdings has a stake in African Defence Systems (ADS), member of the consortium that won a R1.3bn contract, with R450 million going directly to ADS and the rest to sub-contractors. Nkobi Holdings secured its shareholding of ADS through Thompson, later known as Thales, as its empowerment partner.

ANC spokesman Smuts Ngonyama said he had no knowledge of a link between Floryn Investments and the ruling party.

He said he could not comment further because the matter was sub judice.

But he said the ANC was a legal entity and could appoint anyone it wished to serve as its nominee.

Asked if the ANC had shareholder nominee relationships with other companies, Ngonyama said: "There is nothing of that sort I know. The public would know that."

Ngonyama said the ANC would inform the public of any nominee shareholders if it felt this was appropriate.

The laws on transparency also meant people could resort to the courts to secure information they wanted.

Ngonyama said the ANC did not have a specific policy on shareholdings in companies, but followed the constitution and the company laws in regulating its affairs.

But Institute for Democracy in South Africa analyst Judith February said if it was true that the ANC had a 10% stake in Nkobi Holdings, it would be a clear conflict of interests.

"If the ANC as a party has shares, then it is a conflict of interests. That is not a healthy situation. It causes the perception of corruption."

February said that among the arms deal clauses was a provision that if there was clear evidence of corruption, the contracts could be cancelled. She was unsure how they could be affected, but there could be heavy penalties in cancelling a contract at this stage.

n a statement last week, Deputy President Jacob Zuma said that in the 1980s Shaik had received and dispensed hundreds of thousands of rand for the ANC and other structures in the country.

After the unbanning of the ANC, Shaik had continued to play a role in funding and financing the ANC and its activities.

Company registration files in the Department of Trade and Industry show that Floryn Investments was registered on June 15, 1994.

Zuma, who is alleged in court documents to be a secret nominee shareholder in the Nkobi group, said he had no financial interest in any of Shaik's businesses – Thales or the Nkobi Group.

According to a rumour in 1998 which reached Thompson, Mbeki, who was deputy president at the time, did not approve of Nkobi as a partner in the arms deal.

When Thompson heard that, it sought a meeting in which Zuma mediated and which was also attended by Shaik and Shaik's brother Chippy, who was head of procurement at the department of defence.

Chippy Shaik said he would grant the corvette deal if Nkobi was included. Otherwise he would make things difficult for Thompson.

On the same day of the award of the corvette contract, Zuma participated in a meeting with Thompson which allowed Nkobi to have a direct stake in ADS.

With acknowledgements to Charles Phahlane and the Cape Times.