Arms deal investigators meet commission

Judge Willie Seriti. Picture: Etienne Creux.

Judge Willie Seriti. Picture: Etienne Creux.

Published Nov 11, 2012

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Arms deal investigators met with the commission of inquiry probing the R70bn transaction over the weekend, the Sunday Times reports.

Among those at Saturday's “information sharing” meeting in Pretoria were advocate Billy Downer, and former Scorpions advocate Gerda Ferreira.

Commission spokesman William Baloyi said proceedings were minuted and would form part of the commission's report.

The Arms Procurement Commission was expected to begin holding public hearings in February 2013.

In October 2011 President Jacob Zuma announced that Supreme Court of Appeal Judge Willie Seriti would chair the three-man commission of inquiry, flanked by judges Willem van der Merwe and Francis Legodi.

The deal, which was initially estimated to cost R43 million, has dogged South Africa's politics since it was signed in 1999, after then Pan Africanist Congress MP Patricia de Lille raised allegations of corruption in Parliament.

Zuma himself was once charged with corruption after his financial adviser Schabir Shaik, who had a tender to supply part of the requirements, was found to have facilitated a bribe for him from a French arms company. - Sapa

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