The Scorpions’ investigative unit has struck again. This time they pounced on a bidding contractor in the arms deal and brother of a top defence department official. Sipho Ngwema, spokesperson for the National Directorate of Public Prosecutions, had this to say, "We still believe that he stole those documents that’s why they are charging him for theft, they will also try charging him alternatively for contravention of the Protection of Information Act."

Reporter: "I wonder if you could just give us an idea of how serious these charges are...theft. What about the Protection of Information Act. How seriously is this taken?"

Sipho Ngwema: "Extremely serious. Nobody - no private citizen has the right to have top classified government documents. That includes cabinet minutes. Nobody has the right to have cabinet minutes. How did he get hold of those cabinet minutes. And two, those meetings discussed the arms procurement process for which he was going to tender. So, it is extremely serious that he came into possession of highly classified cabinet documents."

Reporter: "Mr Sipho Ngwema, could you tell us whether Chippy Shaik, his brother, in his role as Chief of Acquisitions in the Department of Defence, would he have had access to those documents at all?"

Sipho Ngwema: "Yes, he was present at some of those meetings which are reflected in those documents."

Reporter: "But he wouldn’t have been able to access those documents, or would he?"

Sipho Ngwema: "He would have, yes."

Reporter: "He would have. So, is there a possibility that his brother might be arrested, that Chippy Shaik, might be arrested?"

Sipho Ngwema: "We are still investigating it. Don’t know if we got him.

Shabir Shaik handed himself to the Scorpions this morning and was charged in the Durban Magistrates Court on the charge of theft related to him being in possession of secret government documents related to the procurement process.

Reporter: Shabir Shaik is the brother of top defence official, Chippy Shaik. Last month the Scorpions raided his luxury penthouse on the Durban beach front and his offices on the Esplanade and confiscated loads of documents. Some of the documents, allegedly secret minutes of government cabinet meetings, were seized and are being used in evidence against him. They were apparently classified government documents and were found in his bedroom cupboard. The raid on his flat was conducted in conjunction with raids on his business interests in France and Mauritius. This morning Shaik was whisked into court by the Scorpions, but later agreed to walk out of court for the media. He said he found it surprising that the investigations were focussed on his two percent interest of the total deal. "We are putting so much of tax payers money in pursuing two percent of the so-called conflicts of interest. What’s happened to the other 98 percent interest? Are the investigations going on? I believe... I’d like to think they are going on. Will there be arrests? Well, I certainly hope not, but I’d like that the auditor-general really probe these kind of issues and licit South African citizens like myself and business people like ourselves when he moves forward in his investigation. We would be very willing to assist him."

Shabir Shaik, who is the director of several companies with substantial interest in this country, was released on bail of R1 000. His attorney told the court that shares in the company runs into millions of rands. The Scorpions are tight lipped on their next move. Many others are however bracing themselves for the Scorpion’s sting.

We spoke to Richard Young from C²I² Systems. He is the MD of the company who alleged widespread flaws and inconsistencies in the evaluation of bids and threatened legal action against the state. Young lost out on a multimillion rand contract for the supply of a combat suit for corvettes on the arms deal, he said he had evidence of irregularities in the awarding of the contract. We asked him what he thinks of the outcome of the investigation into the arms deal.

Richard: "I’m extremely, extremely disappointed with the findings. In fact, I don’t consider the findings under the subsection "Findings" to be findings at all, but there are some absolute gems in the main body of that section. And the other thing that I’m a bit disappointed about is that despite Shauket Fakie saying that each and every chapter had it’s own key findings and recommendations, Chapter 11 has no recommendations whatsoever. That section of the report had no teeth at all."

Reporter: "You were hearing from the opposition party saying it’s a white wash, it’s a stage managed act, would you concur?"

Richard: "Absolutely. In fact I know, and I’m not going to tell you how I know, but there were different authors to the report - and I only have personal knowledge of my particular section - but the people who wrote the detail of the report had no contribution to the so-called subsection or section findings. So, it is stage-managed in that they actually got somebody else to go through the first or the first set of drafts and to sanitise it in such a way that it was more appetising for the government and I suppose for the electorate."

Reporter: "Your view that the arms procurement deal is going to go ahead regardless?"

Richard: "That doesn’t surprise me at all in terms of the prime contract. The prime contracts have always been couched in the term strategic procurement / strategic acquisitions. And once you couch the acquisitions in those words, it means the government, the executive can basically make any decisions they like."

Reporter: "You were talking about legal actions some weeks ago. Are you still considering that?"

Richard: "Absolutely. Now that I’ve gone through the body of Chapter 11, I invite anybody to go and look at it for themselves. Not the findings, the findings are a complete waste of time, but you can see in there that there is absolute grounds for follow-up legal actions."

That is Richard Young, MD of C²I² Systems in Cape Town.

With acknowledgement to SAfm PM Live.