Saab жалуется, что Вае в обход него заплатил юарской консалтинговой фирме 3.5 миллиона долларов через СП, где Сааб также владелец.
Эта консалтинговая контора оказалась парадоксальным образом связана с неким Fana Hlongwane, бывшим главой юаровской компании Denel, президентом компании Ngwane Defence Group и советником местного МО.
Saab claims BAE made 'unknown transactions' to South Africa during joint venture
Guy Anderson Editor
Saab has admitted that a multimillion dollar payment was made via a joint venture it owned with BAE Systems to a South African consultancy firm, but has insisted that the agreement was signed by BAE Systems without its knowledge.
The disclose of the ZAR24 million (USD3.5 million) payment to Hlongwane Consulting Ltd from Sanip Ltd came at the conclusion of an internal investigation by Saab that began in May following allegations made by Swedish current affairs television programme 'Kalla Fakta'.
Sanip was a joint venture between BAE Systems and Saab that was related to the companies' offset obligations in South Africa linked to the 1999 sale of Gripen multirole fighter aircraft. This joint venture became dormant after 1999.
Meanwhile, Hlongwane Consulting is linked to Fana Hlongwane: a former director of South African defence firm Denel, chairman of the Ngwane Defence Group and adviser to the South African Ministry of Defence.
In a 16 June statement Saab said that it has referred the affair to Swedish Chief Prosecutor Gunnar Stetler at the National Anti-Corruption Unit, who is expected to consider whether investigations need to be reopened.
Swedish authorities terminated an investigation in July 2009 into allegations of corruption relating to international Gripen sales in the Czech Republic, Hungary and South Africa. The investigation concluded at the time that prosecutors were unable to prove allegations of misconduct since 1 July 2004. There is a five-year statute of limitation relating to such affairs in Sweden.
Saab's initial internal investigation into the allegations made by the Kalla Fakta programme initially concluded that no payments had been made between Sanip and Hlongwane Consulting.
In the admission of 16 June Saab's chief executive, Hakan Buskhe, said: "A person employed by BAE Systems has without Saab's knowledge signed for us an unknown contract [and] signed for us, up until now, unknown transactions as well as signing the audited and apparently inaccurate financial statement for 2003."
BAE Systems told Jane's on 17 June: "These and other matters were fully reviewed by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and formed part of the overall resolution that [BAE Systems] reached with the SFO in February 2010."
It added: "The Company is not aware of any current external regulatory reviews being conducted but will obviously co-operate with any review in the event we are required to do so."
Saab - and its former part owner BAE Systems - were contracted in 1999 to supply a total of 26 Gripen aircraft, comprised of nine two-seat JAS 39D variants and 17 single-seat JAS 39C units. Final deliveries are scheduled to take place next year.
Investigations in South Africa into affairs surrounding the Gripen procurement have led to a series of charges of high-level corruption among senior politicians linked to the governing African National Congress (ANC). However, the probes appeared to have lost momentum by 2010, with limited results to show for the decade-long investigations.
BAE Systems finally terminated its financial links with Saab on 10 June this year with the sale of its remaining 10.25 per cent stake for USD249 million. The UK group had steadily reduced its exposure to Saab during the past five years from a peak of 35 per cent.
