President Jacob Zuma
Tuynhuys
Cape  Town

OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT JACOB ZUMA

BAE Corruption - the Arms Deal

Dear Mr President

As you are aware, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former President FW de Klerk in December 2008 jointly petitioned President Kgalema Motlanthe urging him to appoint a judicial commission of inquiry into the arms deal.  The Scorpions in November 2008 had raided BAE premises in South Africa, and affidavits in my possession detail how BAE paid bribes of £115 million (R1.4 billion) to secure its arms deal contracts, including to whom and into which bank accounts those bribes were paid.

The archbishop and former president were rebuffed with the suggestion that they "take the information to the police."  Charges of money laundering and perjury had previously been filed, which the prosecuting authorities have failed even to investigate. There has also been no follow up or prosecutions on the revelations of BAE's corrupt activities in South Africa. 

It is worth noting that the ANC recalled President Thabo Mbeki in September 2008 because of the arms deal scandal and the cover-up he instigated. In the judgement of Justice Chris Nicholson, on which the ANC placed reliance in recalling President Mbeki, a call is made for a commission of inquiry into the allegations of corruption.

Given your repeated commitments to deal seriously with corruption and your-then recent accession to the Presidency, you were petitioned in June 2009 to appoint a judicial commission. You replied in July that my papers were "vague and embarrassing" and that there was "no case for an inquiry." That your advisers very seriously misdirected you is now confirmed by the decision announced on Friday, February 5 2010 in Washington DC that BAE has been fined US$400 million (R3.1 billion) for corruption and conspiracy.

BAE has now been confirmed by British and United States authorities as a corporate criminal entity with a very long and repeated history of using bribes to secure arms contracts.  Chapter four of the Joint Investigation Team report into the arms deal confirms that the BAE contracts were severely flawed by tendering irregularities, and the then Secretary For Defence honourably resigned from office rather than become a party to such malpractices.

The "remedies in case of bribes" clauses in those BAE supply contracts (clause 20) unambiguously confirm that the South African government may now "summarily cancel the Agreement and claim compensation."  Most of the BAE/Saab Gripen fighter aircraft have not yet been delivered, and their Barclays Bank loan agreements extend until the year 2019.  Cancellation of these contracts would result in immediate savings to taxpayers - and excluding future operating expenses - of an estimated R30 billion.

Accordingly, I request that during your State of the Nation address to Parliament on Thursday you announce that:

a.       The BAE Hawk and BAE/Saab Gripen contracts have summarily been cancelled in terms of the bribery clauses,

b.      South Africa will instigate claims against BAE and the British government's Export Credit Guarantee Department for such compensation as is due, and will tender the return of all armaments delivered in terms of the BAE arms deal against repayment of all amounts paid to date, and

c.       BAE will be blacklisted from all future government procurements.

In addition, or in the alternative to the cancellation now, I request that a thorough independent judicial commission of inquiry into the arms deal urgently be appointed by you in the interests of corruption-free governance and on the basis that the nation could benefit considerably in moral and financial terms from cancellation of all arms deals that are tainted by fraud and corruption.

I also respectfully point out that, in light of these developments concerning BAE and the affidavits referred to in this letter, it would be illegal and irrational for you to decline to appoint a judicial commission of inquiry in terms of your constitutional obligations.

Yours sincerely

Terry Crawford-Browne

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