The multibillion-rand arms deal saga continues to surprise us by throwing up cans of worms at random.
The multibillion-rand arms deal saga continues to surprise us by throwing up cans of worms at random.
Latest to be dragged into the arms deal scandal is former chief of arms procurement at the SANDF, Chippy Shaik - brother of convicted fraudster Schabir Shaik - who is alleged to have been paid a bribe of about R20million by a German company in April 2000.
The German National Prosecuting Authority is now probing claims that officials of industrial steel giant ThyssenKrupp paid bribes to secure contracts in South Africa.
Despite a reluctance spanning almost three years from the government to probe the alleged fraudulent transactions, the latest revelations should ideally spur President Thabo Mbeki into action to appoint a commission of inquiry into the arms deal.
But such calls have been rejected in the past with Mbeki insisting that the deal was not tainted by corruption. That is questionable in the light of the startling allegations that continue to emerge.
To say to the South African public that they are not witnessing a can of worms opening when this is exactly the case, is just not on.
Dare we say again that there is no smoke without fire?
Yet another arms deal backfire
The multibillion-rand arms deal saga continues to surprise us by throwing up cans of worms at random.
The multibillion-rand arms deal saga continues to surprise us by throwing up cans of worms at random.
Latest to be dragged into the arms deal scandal is former chief of arms procurement at the SANDF, Chippy Shaik - brother of convicted fraudster Schabir Shaik - who is alleged to have been paid a bribe of about R20million by a German company in April 2000.
The German National Prosecuting Authority is now probing claims that officials of industrial steel giant ThyssenKrupp paid bribes to secure contracts in South Africa.
Despite a reluctance spanning almost three years from the government to probe the alleged fraudulent transactions, the latest revelations should ideally spur President Thabo Mbeki into action to appoint a commission of inquiry into the arms deal.
But such calls have been rejected in the past with Mbeki insisting that the deal was not tainted by corruption. That is questionable in the light of the startling allegations that continue to emerge.
To say to the South African public that they are not witnessing a can of worms opening when this is exactly the case, is just not on.
Dare we say again that there is no smoke without fire?