R 071305Z JUL 08
FM AMEMBASSY PRETORIA
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 4977
INFO AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE
SOUTHERN AF DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY COLLECTIVE
AMEMBASSY BERLIN 
AMEMBASSY STOCKHOLM 
AMCONSUL CAPE TOWN 
AMCONSUL DURBAN 
AMCONSUL JOHANNESBURG 
NSC WASHDC
DIA WASHINGTON DC
CIA WASHINGTON DC UNCLAS PRETORIA 001460 
 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS:          
SUBJECT: GERMANY ABORTS PROBE INTO SOUTH AFRICAN ARMS DEAL 
 
 1. (U) The following message is based on local press reports 
detailing events in Germany of great interest to the South 
African public.  German prosecutors aborted their probe into 
a decade-old arms deal between the South African Navy and 
German arms manufacturer, ThyssenKrupp.  Despite repeated 
calls from opposition leaders and local analysts for an 
inquiry into Mbeki's role in the arms deal, no action in 
South Africa has been taken to investigate the details of 
this scandal.  The two-year German inquiry concerned the sale 
of four corvettes in the late 1990s in which ruling ANC 
leaders allegedly profited from bribes in a multi-billion 
dollar arms package involving Germany, the U.K. and Sweden. 
Press reports indicated that internal memos from ThyssenKrupp 
detail how Chippy Shaik, the former South African head of 
defense procurement and brother of the infamous Schabir Shaik 
(who was convicted in 2005 of corruption in this deal), 
demanded three million dollars in exchange for contracts to 
build corvettes for South Africa.  After failing to secure 
enough evidence to prosecute ThyssenKrupp during the 
investigation, the Dusseldorf public prosecutor's office 
opted to permanently dissolve the investigation. 
 
BOST