Arms deal documents 'sensitive'

2003-04-10 23:46

Yvonne Beyers

Cape Town - The contents of documents relating to the controversial multi-billion rand arms deal are so sensitive the government ignored a court order this week to hand them over to the pressure group Economists Allied for Arms Reduction (Ecaar).

Judges Andre Blignaut and Dennis Davis of the Cape High Court last month ordered documents dealing with the affordability of the transaction to be handed to Ecaar on Wednesday.

But Finance Minister, Trevor Manuel, and Treasury director-general, Maria Ramos, failed to do so, lodging a High Court application for the ruling to be reconsidered instead.

According to a sworn statement signed by Ramos and Manuel, the contents of the documents are confidential because they contain information on the government's negotiating strategy with international creditors and refers to competing financial facilities.

The controversial documents were handed to the court together with Ramos and Manuel's statement, but they lodged a request that access be limited to Ecaar's legal representatives.

Ecaar chairperson Terry Crawford-Browne said on Thursday that the refusal to hand over the documents showed the government was "trying to buy time" and "trying to hide information".

Ecaar wants to use the documents to lodge an application to have the arms deal revised and declare Manuel's decision to conclude foreign loan agreements unlawful.

Crawford-Browne said earlier an affordability study of the transaction indicated money for arms purchases would have to come from other government departments and the deal would cost far more than originally envisaged.

Ecaar believes the government will not be able to meet its socio-economic obligations as laid down by the Constitution because of costs linked to the transaction.

"If the documents can be used to prove the transaction was unlawful, it will have horrendous implications for the government. That's why they prefer to plunder the country rather than let the transaction be cancelled," Crawford-Browne said on Thursday.

He said Ecaar would proceed with its application to have the arms deal reconsidered even if the court revises its ruling and denies the pressure group access to the documents.

- Die Burger