South Africa: European governments ‘must pay back the arms deal money’

(The Citizen, Johannesburg, 22 August 2019) The North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria has set aside the findings of the Seriti commission on Wednesday, delivering a scathing judgment that it had failed in fulfilling its mandate. The High Court judgment on the findings of the commission lamented that the arms deal inquiry had never been set up to investigate the truth, but only to clear the names of those implicated. Long-time critic Terry Crawford-Browne said yesterday that South Africa should cancel all still-outstanding arms deal contracts, return all purchased goods – including the fighter aircraft – and recover the stolen money from the arms deal. This includes cancellation of still-outstanding arms deal commitments, such as the 20-year Barclays Bank loan agreements for the BAE Hawk and BAE/Saab Gripen fighter aircraft that are guaranteed by the British government’s Export Credit Guarantee Department (now known as UK Finance),” he said.