Arms Deal: Chippy Shaik At The Centre Of It All?
With three European countries (England, Germany and Sweden) about to start their own investigations into bribery involved in the multi-billion Rand arms deal (despite our own government claiming everything was above board) the role of Chippy Shaik, older brother of Schabir, is starting to come under the spotlight. Chippy was head of procurement for the Department of Defence during the tendering and acquisition of the various weapons systems that made up the arms deal.
The NPA alleges that Chippy “suggested” that Thales partner up with his brother Schabir as a BEE partner. That of course led to the R500 000 bribe offer given to Jacob Zuma which basically kicked off the whole saga culminating in Shaik’s conviction for fraud and Zuma’s firing as Deputy President. Chippy has kept a very low profile following his resignation from the Department of Defence but should the NPA decide to investigate further into Chippy’s role in the arms deal I have a feeling he might have a lot more to answer for than Schabir ever did.
Update: Chippy Shaik goes to groundFormer Head of Procurement for the arms deal at the Ministry of Defence and brother of jailed fraudster Schabir Shaik, Shamin Chippy Shaik, 46, cannot be found and his family have thrown a net of secrecy over his whereabouts.
The Sunday Times has been told that he has set plans in motion to flee the country as he does not want to take the chance of spending time in a South African jail and is making his way to Perth in Australia.