Ah, the arms deal. It’s like the ANC’s bastard child that won’t go away. The government said it should be dropped, as there wasn’t enough evidence to investigate any further. That was until Saab revealed that they’d paid brides of about 24 million Rand. Now it seems that the Hawks are finally going to take another look at the torrid affair.

The DA wrote to the head of the Hawks, Lieutenant General Anwar Dramat, requesting the investigation after the CEO of Saab admitted on Thursday that an internal investigation had revealed that brides were paid by BAE to Sanip Pty Ltd.

The payments to Sanip were then transferred to a South African consultant and never entered into the accounts of Sanip; and the payments took place without the knowledge of Saab.

The secret payments were reportedly received by an advisor to former defense minister, Joe Modise, by the name of Fana Hlongwane. He was alleged to have received commissions for the acquisition of 26 Girpen fighter jets from Saab/ British Aerospace.

The DA said that the letter they received from Dramat stated:

I am aware of the recent disclosures made by Saab’s Executive Officer, Mr Hakan Buskhe. This information will be assessed by the directorate for priority crime investigation.

I’m sure you, like I, welcome this decision by someone to actually do something about this ridiculous situation.

[Source : News24]