Cape Town (AFP) – A South African judicial inquiry has cleared all government officials of long-standing charges of corruption in a multi-billion dollar arms deal, President Jacob Zuma said Thursday.
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The Commission of Inquiry concluded that there was no room for it to draw adverse inferences, inconsistent with the direct, credible evidence presented to it, in respect of all material aspects of the Terms of Reference, Zuma said.
“The president will release the report of the commission today‚ 21 April 2016‚ at 10.30‚ through the public broadcaster‚ the SABC‚” it said. All the commissioners were judges and all had come to the same conclusion, he said.
The commission set up by Zuma in November 2011 investigated allegations of fraud, corruption, impropriety or irregularity in the package, more commonly known as the arms deal.
“Government had been of the view that any findings pointing to wrongdoing should be given to law enforcement agencies for further action”, he continued. “There are no such findings and the Commission of Inquiry does not make any recommendations”.
The DA said the commission refused to admit crucial documents, such as the final report by Debevoise & Plimpton, following a compliance investigation into Ferrostaal, which was part of the German Submarine Consortium.
Zuma was accused of having accepted bribes from worldwide arms manufacturers to influence the choice of weaponry.
Zuma was sacked as deputy president in 2005 after his financial advisor was convicted of corruption in the affair.
Shaik was released on medical parole in 2009, the year Zuma was elected president.
Opposition parties have expressed their disappointment in the outcomes of the Seriti Commission’s final report on the multibillion rand Arms Deal.
She claims commission chairperson, Judge Willie Seriti, knew long before the commission even started what its outcome was going to be.
A court ruled last month that Zuma had violated the constitution over spending on his private residence, and he has been beset by allegations that a wealthy family had such influence over him that it could decide ministerial appointments.
He said the government wanted to reclaim the defence force from the white-minority regime ousted by Nelson Mandela and the ANC in 1994.
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The Commission conducted its inquiry for a period of four years, exceeding the two years it had been initially given to do the work. “The ANC reaffirms its confidence in the credibility of the process and trust that the commission’s report will bring to finality the allegations and claims of wrongdoing in the arms deal”.
