CAPE TOWN, April 21 (ANA) – The Seriti commission of inquiry into the 1999 arms deal found no evidence of wrongdoing on the part of the Cabinet of the day or any government official, South African President Jacob Zuma said on Thursday as he released its report four months after receiving it.
In a live televised address, the president said the commission found no support or corroboration for allegations of corruption in selecting the arms manufacturers contracted by the South African government and encountered not a shred of evidence that any of the “senior politicians in the government of the day” were bribed.
“On whether any person or persons improperly influenced the award or conclusion of any of the contracts in the procurement process, the commission found that the evidence presented before it does not suggest that undue or improper influence played any role in the selection of the preferred bidders, which ultimately entered into contracts with the government,” Zuma said.
He said the commission, which was appointed four and a half years ago, considered the role of consultants hired by arms makers and handed large sums of money. It stated that this created an impression that decision-makers may have been bribed but, again, no proof of this was found.
“On this point, the commission states that not a single iota of evidence was placed before it, showing that any of the money received by any of the consultants was paid to any officials involved in the Strategic Defence Procurement Package, let alone any of the members of the Inter-Ministerial Committee that oversaw the process, or any member of the Cabinet that took the final decisions, nor is there any circumstantial evidence pointing to this,” he stressed.
The commission accepted assurances that the money was meant as consultants’ fees and nothing else, he added. Individuals fingered on this score testified before the commission and refuted the allegations and none of them were discredited as witnesses.
– African News Agency (ANA)
