No arms deal link, says e-toll company
2012-05-12 14:21
Johannesburg - Kapsch TrafficCom, the
Austrian company contracted to the e-toll system, has denied that it had
improper dealings with Swedish companies involved in the arms deal.
The company's executive board member Andre
Laux denied that it had improper dealings with arms manufacturing company, SAAB
- which admitted in June to paying bribes of more than R24 million to ensure it
was picked to supply Gripen jets to South Africa in the arms deal.
"We firmly reject any speculation
linking Kapsch TrafficCom and the arms deals. We believe this allegation is the
result of a simple misinterpretation of information regarding one of our
subsidiary companies," he said on Saturday.
Kapsch said it had bought Swedish Combitech,
a daughter company of SAAB, in 2000. The company was a specialist in e-tolling
and traffic solutions, and offered "a perfect match to Kapsch's traffic
business-line".
"This is the only link between our
Swedish subsidiary and the project in South Africa," said Laux.
The company welcomed the announcement of a
preliminary investigation into the e-toll contracts by Public Protector Thuli
Madonsela.
The investigation was announced on Friday
after complaints were lodged by DA MP Jack Bloom, director for the Institute
for Accountability in SA Paul Hoffman and the recently resigned chief executive
of the SA National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) Nazir Alli.
Bloom said the country needed "to know
if any high-level politician was unjustly enriched in this process".
Alli resigned on Monday, just over a week
after the Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (Outa) was granted an urgent
interdict to stop the launch of the system.
The project has since been put on hold.
- SAPA
