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Indian-origin businessman arrested in arms deal

A businessman of Indian-origin, Shabir Shaik, who is brother of defence procurement chief and a bidding contractor in $5.5 billion arms deal in South Africa, was arrested on Friday for possession of classified documents, a justice official said.

Shabir Shaik, brother of Chippy Shaik, who is head of arms acquisitions in the Department of Defence, was arrested in Durban by the elite police investigation unit, Scorpions, for possessing classified documents, including cabinet minutes in which the arms deal was discussed and correspondence between the departments of public enterprises and defence.

A spokesperson for the elite police unit said Shabir Shaik is a shareholder in African Defence Systems, of which the majority is owned by the French pan-European defence company, Thales, previously known as Thomson CSF.

ADS is a partner in the South African Corvette Consortium, that is building four corvettes for the South African Navy. In addition to the four Corvettes, the Defence Department also has plans to purchase a number of fighter jets and other sophisticated war machines.

"We take it very, very seriously that classified information can be stolen. We want him to explain in court," the spokesperson said. Shabir Shaik will be charged under the Protection of Information Act.

The arrest was made a day after the Auditor General, the National Public Prosecutor and the Public Protector presented their joint report to Parliament on investigations into allegations that a number of senior government officials and even ministers had benefited from the arms procurement deal.

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