Arms deal whistleblowers still want justice

WHISTLEBLOWERS and campaigners against the multibillion-rand arms deal have not given up on justice for taxpayers after the Judicial Conduct Committee (JCC) confirmed it was investigating complaints against two judges who probed the transaction.

Whistleblower Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Patricia de Lille wants the R137 million spent on the commission headed by retired Supreme Court of Appeal Judge Willie Seriti to be recovered from evidence leaders, the lawyers and investigators it employed.

De Lille, unlike other whistleblowers, former IFP MP Gavin Woods and Terry Crawford-Browne, does not want the commission to be reinstituted.

Instead she wants a criminal investigation into the allegations of corruption in the R142 billion deal she first publicised during a sitting of the National Assembly on September 9, 1999.

De Lille told Independent Media that the first problem with the Seriti Commission was its terms of reference that it must report to former president Jacob Zuma, who has been facing corruption, fraud and money-laundering charges relating to the arms deal for over a decade.

Zuma’s corruption trial is scheduled to resume on Monday.

The GOOD Party leader believes the commission had a predetermined outcome.

“When I was subpoenaed the evidence leaders were very hostile towards us (witnesses and whistleblowers),” De Lille said.

According to the former Cape Town mayor, the dossier she presented in Parliament almost 22 years ago has led to two successful prosecutions – ex-ANC chief whip Tony Yengeni and Zuma’s erstwhile financial advisor Schabir Shaik, who were both jailed for fraud.

De Lille said the commission demanded evidence from her despite handing over her dossier to it for further investigation.

“R137m is a lot of money. We have to recover it from the evidence leaders, senior counsel and other lawyers. They did not do any investigations, it’s very sad,” she explained.