"President Mbeki or any other individual or entity in South Africa, were never mentioned in any of the correspondence between the German authorities and the department," the statement said.

German industrial giant ThyssenKrupp said on Wednesday that German prosecutors had found no evidence linking it to corruption in South Africa’s multi-billion rand arms deal. The public prosecutor’s office in Düsseldorf had closed the investigation.

South Africa’s Department of Justice and Constitutional Development said on Thursday it and government had not been officially told by the German authorities that they had stopped their investigation.

"... media reports that President Thabo Mbeki is ’off the hook’ in terms of the German ’corrupt arms deal’ investigation are mischievous and defamatory," the department said.

"President Mbeki or any other individual or entity in South Africa, were never mentioned in any of the correspondence between the German authorities and the department."

The ID said on Thursday it would continue to push for an investigation into prominent South Africans who could have been involved in corrupt activities as part of the arms deal.

"President Mbeki is not off the hook," said ID leader Patricia de Lille.

"Just because the German authorities have decided not to continue their investigation does not mean that President Mbeki is cleared," she added.

President Mbeki reportedly visited Germany during the bidding process in the late nineties.

At the time, ThyssenKrupp was not on the shortlist to win the contract, but after Mbeki’s visit it was short listed and won the contract.

"The ID will continue to call on our own National Prosecuting Authority to use the information that they already have in South Africa to continue the investigation and proceed to prosecute those who are alleged to be involved," said De Lille.

The DA maintained that failure by the government to provide "critical" information relating to investigations into the arms deal appeared to be the main reason for the end of Germany’s investigations.

Democratic Alliance member of parliament and arms deal spokesman Eddie Trent said the decision by German prosecutors to cease investigations into alleged corruption of the sale of four ships to the South African government was likely because of "lack of information."

This helped to entrench the view that the arms deal was "tainted by corruption from deep within the state, especially when read in conjunction with the possible closure of the Scorpions," he added.

He said if government was serious about fighting corruption it would invest its time and resources into gathering and analysing the necessary information.

"While we are disappointed with the German public prosecutor’s decision to stop its investigation, the DA will continue to tirelessly fight the issue of the arms deal at Parliament, as we believe that the guilty should not be allowed to go unpunished," said Trent.

The party said it was in contact with the German prosecuting authorities since writing to them in April to offer the party’s assistance with investigations.

"We have since written to them again, this time asking them to provide us with as much relevant information as they can in order that we can take the matter further in South Africa".

With acknowledgements to Sapa and Business Day.