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Die leier van SA [boodskap #112608]

Do, 01 Februarie 2007 08:30

Riaan
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http://southafricasucks.blogspot.com/

President Thabo Mbeki himself has the most to lose from the British
investigation into corruption behind South Africa's purchase of jet fighters
and trainers from BAe Systems. That is the opinion of Dr Gavin Woods - the
IFP chairman of Parliament's Public Accounts Committee who resigned in
protest over corruption in SA's R60-billion arms deal.

---

WILL MBEKI LIE HIS WAY OUT OF THIS ONE?

Woods said Mbeki's recent outburst against his one-time friend, British
Prime Minister Tony Blair, was a sure sign that pressure was getting to
Mbeki.

Said Woods: "It was Thabo Mbeki who, as Deputy President under Nelson
Mandela, oversaw the entire arms deal process. I always suspected that part
of the reason Mbeki has never wanted the arms deal properly investigated was
that he did not want the embarrassment of it being made public that he had
managed the arms deal in such a poor manner that corruption was allowed to
creep in on such a massive scale."
At the weekend Mbeki launched a scathing attack on Blair, accusing him of
double standards for forcing British investigators to drop their
investigation of Saudi Arabian arms deals but allowing them to probe SA's
arms deal.

---

WHY IS MBEKI SO OVER-DEFENSIVE?

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Mbeki said the
British probe into BAe systems' dealings in SA had tainted SA. Mbeki accused
Blair of double standards for not squashing the SA arms deal probe as he
quashed the probe into BAe's dealings in Saudi Arabia, where the arms giant
is believed to have bribed members of the Saudi royal family to buy its
products.

Woods said he was surprised at Mbeki's outburst. "It came as a bit of a
shock that he should so openly attack Tony Blair, who he once appeared to be
very friendly with. Clearly it shows he is under great pressure. If this
British probe uncovers evidence of widespread systemic corruption in the
deal it will be a blight on Mbeki's legacy. I am sure he desperately wants
to avoid the embarrassment of being remembered for presiding over a corrupt
arms deal."

Colm Allan of the Public Service Accountability Monitor (PSAM) at Rhodes
University said he was surprised by the tone of Mbeki's speech. "I suppose
we could interpret his speech in two ways. I hope he was merely criticising
Blair for cancelling the Saudi probe. The other way his speech could be
taken implies he was asking Blair to also halt the South African
investigation.

"I sincerely hope that is not the case and that he was instead merely saying
the Saudis should be investigated as well as South Africa."

Allan said PSAM was one of more than 130 nongovernmental organisations that
appealed to Blair to reinstate the Saudi probe.

***

(no worries Thabo, this is nothing! ~ wait until The Genocide Tribunals
start at The Hague then you'll really be shitting yerself, you dirty ol'
bastard!)

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Re: Die leier van SA [boodskap #112609 is 'n antwoord op boodskap #112608]

Do, 01 Februarie 2007 08:56

Vuur
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Tor se president het n geld uit die ding gemaak, sy filosifie is seker
as jy steel moet jy deel, seker is hy jammer dat hy nie vir Blair n
tjek gestuur het nie......................

Zuma was die village Idioot om net R500 000 n jaar te vat, wat van die
ander R100 0000 0000 ?

Noseweek het meer oor die deal, ..............

Arms deal: Focus on Mbeki

Nic Dawes and Sam Sole

President Thabo Mbeki faces an awkward trip to the World Cup this
weekend. The focus of questions about the 1999 arms deal has shifted
squarely onto him, with German investigators pursuing allegations that
massive kickbacks were paid to help secure the contract to supply
warships to the South African navy.

Prosecuting authorities in Düsseldorf are looking into about R140-
million in bribes allegedly paid by bidders in the German Frigate
Consortium, which has denied any wrongdoing.

German news magazine Der Spiegel broke the news of the investigation
on Monday, a fortnight after raids were conducted on offices of
consortium members Thyssen Rheinstaal Tecknik and Homwaldswerke-
Deutsche Werft.

A part of the investigation, the Mail & Guardian understands, derives
from unsubstantiated allegations directed at Mbeki himself - in a
letter sent to German authorities in 2001.

The disclosures will add to pressure on the president regarding his
own role in the defence acquisition process, which up to now has
hinged on his amnesia about meetings he might have had with
representatives of the French defence company Thales during the bid
negotiation process.

According to Der Spiegel, one strand of the German investigation flows
from "as yet unproven" claims that "a top South African politician had
received a payment in the high millions via a Swiss bank account for
his help in facilitating the deal".

The allegation was made in a letter from a South African citizen
received by the prosecutor's office in 2001.

A well-informed German source told the M&G the letter alleged a
meeting took place in Geneva in or around 1999, during which cash was
handed over by a middleman operating on behalf of Thyssen.

According to people in South Africa and Germany familiar with the
circumstances, the letter was sent by Nicholas Achterberg, a shadowy
Johannesburg businessman who has strong German connections. The
politician he supposedly implicated was Mbeki.

A former business partner, who asked not to be named, confirmed that
he knew about Achterberg's letter. He said the allegations made in the
letter stemmed from an alcohol-fuelled conversation over lunch
between Achterberg, Philippe Muller, who headed a Thyssen subsidiary
in South Africa at the time, and an unidentified Frenchman.

It was not possible to trace Achterberg, who is said to be living on a
yacht in the Caribbean, but he did have a business relationship with
the Thyssen group.

A spokesperson for Thyssen Krupp Marine Systems in South Africa
confirmed that Muller had headed one of the conglomerate's companies
in South Africa, and that he had had dealings with Achterberg
involving metals trading. Thyssen now believes Achterberg owes it
large sums of money - raising the possibility that Achterberg's claims
were motivated by malice.

Thyssen Krupp "has substantial claims against Achterberg arising from
those deals", the spokesperson said, stressing that Muller had
"absolutely nothing to do with the Corvettes [the frigates]
whatsoever". Muller has since left the company.

Presidential communications boss Murphy Morobe said he knew nothing
about the letter or the investigation other than what had appeared in
Der Spiegel and on German television.

Of Achterberg's claims he said: "He should have gone to the police in
South Africa, there have been investigations into this issue for some
years." Mbeki would not be discussing the allegations with German
Chancellor Angela Merkel, Morobe said, adding: "There is nothing
really new there."

But that claim is belied by the main allegations reported by Der
Spiegel.

The magazine left little room for doubt over whether kickbacks were
paid: "The investigators know that certain so-called UEs were paid in
the course of the Corvette deal," it said. "UE is an abbreviation for
'useful expenditure' and refers to bribes paid to foreign companies
and declared as tax deductible until the practice became punishable
under German law in February 1999."

Der Spiegel says the investigation of the South African deal flowed
from an earlier investigation into "useful expenditure" claimed by
Thyssen on the sale of armoured vehicles to Saudi Arabia.

Tax investigators then also examined other Thyssen affiliates. In the
process they ascertained that the company had included similar
payments in the balance sheet for the Corvette deal.

Thyssen Krupp, however, said in a statement that it was confident that
"the investigations will not confirm the suspicions regarding the
illegal payment of commission".

But the German investigation is likely to prompt renewed scrutiny of
the Corvette deal and Mbeki's role during the bids.

In January 1995, then deputy president Mbeki visited Germany, a month
after Armscor had announced that it was considering buying warships
from either the Scottish shipyard Yarrow, or Spanish firm Bazan.

A German consortium involving Thyssen was out of the running. But
Mbeki told Klaus Kinkel, the German foreign minister, and members of
the consortium that the race was still open. This time the Germans
were shortlisted.

That tender was ultimately abandoned in favour of a more comprehensive
package, and the Germans were once again among the bidders, ultimately
winning the R4,3-billion Corvette platform contract in 1998.

According to the auditor general's Joint Investigation Team's report
on the procurement process, however, they had failed to meet tender
specifications: "With the exception of Bazan all the bidders failed to
comply with the minimum evaluation criteria in respect of financing,
technical requirements, and Defence Industrial Participation," the
report said.

The report went on to criticise the process further, saying "the
decision to allow bidders for the Corvette programme to supply
information after the offers were submitted constituted a deviation
from proper procurement practice".

Independent Democrats leader Patricia de Lille, who in 1999 told
Parliament she was in possession of a dossier that implicated senior
African National Congress figures in taking bribes to influence the
deal, this week called for an investigation into Mbeki's role. "What
needs to be established is whether there was a link between his visit
and the decision to shortlist the German consortium

http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=276501&ar ea=/insight/insight__national/

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