South Africa assures full cooperation in Denel arms case

CBI sources said the authorities have responded positively to the presentation given by its team which visited the country recently.

The team, led by CBI Director A P Singh, met top South African officials including the Defence Minster and apprised them about the seven-year-old case in which the agency is seeking information through Letters Rogatory from South Africa, the sources said.

The authorities there told the team that they could not respond to LRs sent by the agency because some employees of Denel had filed injunction with the courts there expressing their reluctance to be questioned by the CBI officials, they said.

The authorities assured that they would be intimate within a week the legal position in this regard and possible time limit in which the replies might be furnished, they said.

Sources said agency wants to know the details Indian contacts which had allegedly helped the South African firm to bag the contract.

The sources said the Defence Ministry of South Africa had asked the agency to present its case before them so that judicial requests sent seeking information about the company could be furnished.

They said seeing the gravity of the case, Singh accompanied by DIG Praveer Ranjan had gone there.

In 2005, the CBI had booked unnamed officials of state-owned South African arms manufacturer Denel, its British agent and officials of Indian Defence Ministry to probe alleged corruption in arms purchase, they said.