Debra Patta : "Welcome back as we bring you this eNews Special Report."

"Government is still refusing to discuss the arms deal in public as evidence of a top-level cover-up emerges. The revelations come in the form of previously unseen documents about investigations into the arms deal. Opposition parties want a judicial commission of enquiry to investigate any charges of a cover-up from the top. But this is simply being ignored. In this Special Report Ayesha Ismail outlines some of the issues which have led to the cause for an enquiry."

Ayesha Ismail : "As early as 1999 there was a public outcry about government's R30 billion arms deal. Allegations of bribery and corruption were raised. Schabir Shaikh and Deputy President Jacob Zuma were some of the top people implicated. Shaikh who is currently on trial for fraud and corruption relating to the arms deal, won a multimillion rand government contract while his brother, Chippy, was the chief procurement officer for the department of defence. These are just some of the complaints about the tender process by losing bidders - insisting that the arms deal was a get rich quick scheme for those with political connections."

"There were also claims that former Defence Minister Joe Modise had been pushing through deals without proper consultation and consideration. Modise is believed to have had shares in at least one company Conlog, which was connected to the arms deal."

"And then there was Tony Yengeni, who was the head of the defence portfolio committee and who was convicted for fraud relating to the arms acquisition process. The court found that he had tried to cover up a car deal arranged for him by a representative of a bidder in the arms deal. Other ANC people in the department of Trade and Industry and the Defence Force also got discounted cars."

"Parliament's Standing Committee on Public Accounts, SCOPA, then commissioned an investigation following allegations of irregularities. At the time Judge Willem Heath's investigative unit was known as one of the top corruption busting outfits in the country. It was assumed he would be part of the probe. He also had the legal powers to cancel contracts found to be corrupt, but President Thabo Mbeki refused to issue a proclamation giving the Heath unit the go-ahead to investigate. Instead the investigation was carried out by the (Attorney -sic) Auditor-General, the Public Protector and the National Prosecuting Authority."

"A year later in 2001 the Auditor-General showed that Fakie gave the arms deal a clean bill of health."

Shauket Fakie : "There was no evidence found of any improper or unlawful conduct by the part of government."

Ayesha Ismail : "However the arms deal was only declared to be corruption free after Mbeki and key cabinet ministers got to see Fakie's investigative report before it went public. At the time we were told only information relating to state security was taken out. But documents in the possession of defence contractor Richard Young, whose company was snubbed for one of the arms deal sub-contracts, show otherwise. Using the Access to Information Act, Young went to court to get access to the draft report on the arms deal. He won the case, but still Fakie refused to hand the documents over. It was only after he was found to be in contempt of court and threatened with jail time that he handed them over. Young says the documents reveal that the final version had been significantly altered."

Richard Young : "The changes to the other chapters in which I have no professional interest, only a social, citizen kind of interest, also show extremely severe changes - especially regarding fundamental findings and conclusions that had been made by the investigators who did the investigation and who wrote the initial report. There were very fundament one-line findings like that there were fundamental flaws in the acquisition process of certain of the programmes, that the government contracting position had been affected by irregularities. Whereas if you look at the final report of which I have a copy in front of me here, all those clear concise findings have been taken out."

Ayesha Ismail : "Before the report was made public, investigators found that fair and competitive procurement procedures for the selection of sub-contractors were not followed in all cases. And that former Defence Minister Joe Modise had pushed for more expensive British Hawk aircraft to be purchased instead of cheaper planes from the Italians - despite objections from the military."

"This meant there were fundamental flaws in the selection. It also found the submarine contracts were materially flawed and could have prejudiced unsuccessful bidders. But calls for the enquiry into these discrepancies are being flatly refused by government. Former Judge Willem Heath, whose unit was excluded from investigating the arms deal, doesn't believe a commission will achieve much though."

Judge Willem Heath : "In my view that would serve very little purpose. A commission of enquiry has very few, very limited powers. And once they have filed their report, the government can do with the report whatever they like. It's not binding, it's not even raw, it's got no effect whatsoever, it doesn't even set a precedent. So, it's got no effect whatsoever."

Ayesha Ismail : "Heath says the Joint Investigation Team's report has absolutely no credibility."

Judge Willem Heath : "None of those agencies had the jurisdiction to investigate the real issues. And the real issues were in fact the validity of the tender process and validity of the contracts. And that is where the unit was supposed to come in and investigate those very issues."

Ayesha Ismail : "He said his unit would have applied for an order, declaring the contracts invalid. According to Heath there is a very clear principle in law which states that if government concludes contracts which go against the nation, such contracts can be declared invalid. But he says it's too late to do anything now, as the deal is done - costing South African tax payers billions of rands."

"Allegations of a cover-up into the arms deal have cast doubt on the credibility of the President and the Office of the Auditor-General. Government is now under pressure to break its silence about the report."

"The former Auditor-General, Henri Kluever, has questioned Fakie's apparent conduct. He says politicians are accountable to the Auditor-General and not the other way around."

Henri Kluever : "The Auditor-General is no way bound by these kind of comments on his report and that he should not remove anything of substance. This is getting to be an ethical and moral issue. But the things that were cut out of the report, were they substantial, were they serious? If that's the case, I don't think its acceptable to remove this kind of thing from the report."

Ayesha Ismail : "But even with questions of accountability hanging over the government and its multibillion rand arms deal, there's an absolute refusal to discuss the matter with eNews openly."

"Presidential spokesperson, Bheki Kumalo, says government has nothing to say, while the Auditor-General simply states that he stands by the final version of his report. But we may never know how much we can trust the report if further investigations are also blocked."

"Ayesha Ismail, Cape Town."

With acknowledgements to Ayesha Ismail, Debra Patta and eNews.