In a dramatic twist to the arms deal corruption saga, a bitter Deputy President Jacob Zuma last night issued a detailed statement lashing out at the way the probe into allegations that he accepted a R500 000 bribe was conducted.

However, he stopped short of declining to answer a set of questions posed by the Scorpions.

Zuma's statement at once illustrates the gravity of his position and also his determination to fight to clear his name.

The statement comes on the eve of the deadline he was given to provide the questions, although Zuma said he considered this date merely a request and that he would answer the questions "at my earliest convenience". Zuma took the unusual step of releasing for the first time some of his correspondence with the Scorpions, and complained bitterly that the was not accorded his constitutional rights as an ordinary citizen.

Zuma displayed particular anger at the way allegations against him had systematically found their way into the media, and was scathing about the way the Scorpions at first refused to acknowledge that he was in fact under investigation.

The Scorpions have rejected Zuma's claims that they allowed information about the investigation to be published in the media, implicitly suggesting that the "leaks" could have as easily come from Zuma's camp.

But Zuma said he was forced to learn from the media and from affidavits submitted by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) in court proceedings to which "I was not a party that the allegation against me is that I solicited a bribe of R500000 a year to protect a French company from being investigated for contraventions arising from the arms deal".

"This allegation is utterly baseless. I have said before for the record, and repeat, that I have nothing to hide and reject with contempt any suggestion that I solicited or in any way agreed to accept or even discussed accepting a bribe."

Zuma said that as far back as last year, his lawyers had written to the Scorpions National Director Bulelani Ngcuka saying the arms deal investigation was dragging on and exacting a heavy toll on him personally.

Zuma said he had asked for an undertaking that no further documentation generated by the investigation would be leaked to the media.

The NPA had replied that it was "not the nature of our business to disclose prematurely the substance and subjects of an investigation other than through legal process."

Zuma said he considered many of the questions invasive of his privacy but he nevertheless decided to reply.

With acknowledgements to Tim Cohen and the Business Day.