Arms deal whistle-blower testifies at Seriti Commission of Inquiry

01 Feb 2016 | Admin Author

Cape Town executive mayor, Patricia de Lille, has begun giving testimony to the Seriti Commission of Inquiry probing the country's multi-billion rand arms deal.

De Lille, who was a PAC MP at the time, has been campaigning for years for an inquiry into government expenditure on the arms deal, receiving what became known as the De Lille dossier outlining alleged corruption and maladministration linked to the arms acquisition programme.

De Lille told the Commission of her personal journey since 1999 in dealing with the arms deal after receiving documents related to the arms deal.

She said what followed after December 1999 was two years of hell, during which she was vilified, followed and called a useful idiot.

De Lille said former Justice Minister Pennuel Maduna had instructed former Western Cape NPA head, Frank Kahn, to meet with her about the contents of the documents she had received to see if there was any prima facie evidence.

She told the Commission that Kahn, in a report to the then Justice Minister and President Mbeki, confirmed that there was prima facie evidence in that documents and suggested that it was worthwhile investigating.

"That Friday night President Thabo Mbeki went on national television and he said that his being advised there's no prima facie evidence in that De Lille dossier and like his done a week ago before this very commission still asked for evidence."

She said Kahn called her that same evening of Mbeki's TV broadcast to set the record straight with her.

"That is not what he had advised President Thabo Mbeki, that he infact did confirm that there was prima facie evidence in the document and that he was going to give the office of the president and the minister 1 week to come out with the real report that confirmed prima facie evidence, failure of which he would get the newspapers to publish his full report." said De Lille.