CW and R2K unearth damning new evidence of failure of Arms Commission
11 October 2018
This week Corruption Watch (CW) and the Right2Know (R2K) Campaign are submitting damning new evidence to the High Court that the Arms Deal Commission failed to do its job. This is an important step in the civil society groups’ ongoing challenge against the commission’s findings. The new evidence shows that the commission not only failed in its investigation – but it also misled the public.
The two organisations filed their application almost two years ago, but the process has been hampered by the state attorney’s numerous delays in filing the documents that led the commission, under Judge Willie Seriti, to conclude that there was no evidence of corruption in the arms deal. The record relates to letters, memoranda, reports, minutes and other material that was before the Seriti Commission, upon which its findings were based, and which have never previously been released to the public.
Today, CW and R2K filed their supplementary affidavit based on parts of the record of decision that were eventually provided to the applicants, although these were still incomplete.
The documents in question allege three things: firstly, that the commission lied to the public and hid evidence of corruption; secondly, by failing to access information abroad, the commission made no attempt to investigate serious allegations of corruption put before it; and thirdly, that the commission has failed to investigate new allegations that have come to light.