R2K statement on release of Seriti Commission report on the Arms Deal: The whitewash we saw coming!
21 April 2016
R2K is angered by the content of the report of the Seriti Commission, presented today by President Zuma, which claims that it found no evidence of corruption and bribery in the 1999 Arms Deal. The extent of the cover-up vindicates our consistent reservations about the fairness of the process. It has long been clear that the commission was unwilling to fully pursue the truth - but we are shocked by the extent of the cover-up.
This despite a mountain of evidence which could have helped the Commission prove wrongdoing - and findings in other courts against people who benefitted from the arms deal including President Zuma’s financial advisor Shabir Shaik and Tony Yengeni. The deal involves a powerful network of people that stretches all the way to the Union Buildings.
The Seriti Commission ignored extensive evidence of corruption that is in the public domain (see http://armsdealfacts.com/). The commission also refused to give witnesses and critics access to key information in their possession. All this was to the benefit of European Arms companies that profited from the deal.
The conduct of the commission led two commissioners and an attorney to resign from the commission because of its ‘second agenda’. It was for this reason that R2K and more than 40 other organisations called for the commission to be dissolved. We have consistently argued that that if the Seriti Commission inhibits the public's right to know, it will be considered a whitewash by most South Africans.