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The Democratic Alliance (DA) welcomes Minister of Trade and Industry Rob Davies’ announcement that letters of support, provided by the Department of Trade and Industry to a company looking to do business in Iran, in potential violation of a United Nations arms embargo on Iran, will be investigated.

In a reply to a parliamentary question the Minister revealed that the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) had provided three letters supporting a company called “360 Aviation” doing business in Iran.

The services offered by the company included aviation project management and services including the delivery of Bell 212 helicopters, the supply of spare parts to Persian Aviation Gulf Services and providing spare part and aviation services to the National Iranian Oil Company.

One of the letters, dated 12 April 2011, which was signed by Riaan Le Roux (Acting Deputy Director-General, Trade and Investment South Africa, in the Department of Trade and Industry) is a major concern because:

the letter was allegedly used to solicit a bribe of R10 million by a group of business people which included Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe’s partner Gugu Mtshali; and
the letter could have risked drawing the (DTI) into what would have amounted to state-sponsored sanctions-busting in Iran.

Was the letter of support supplied by the DTI part of a "pay to play" scam, where high-level government support was provided for business deals in return for bribes?

And how is it that the DTI so easily supplied a letter of support to a company specialising in aviation project management and services to do business in Iran after the imposition of a comprehensive arms embargo on Iran by the United Nations?

One would have expected alarms bells to have gone off somewhere in the DTI.

However, this does not appear to have happened and the letter of support was issued; remarkably stating that:

“This letter serves to confirm that the Department of Trade and Industry in the Republic of South Africa support the initiatives by the Three 60 Aviation.
Three 60 Aviation has established business relationships with leading enterprises in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The South African government welcomes expanding trade and investment relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran”.

The letters of support were issued unilaterally without consulting any other department.

There does not appear to have been any deal between 360 Aviation and Iran in 2011.

However, the supply of helicopters and helicopter parts, which could have been used for military purposes, could have breached the United Nations Security Council arms embargo on Iran.

The DTI does not appear to have carried out proper “due diligence” on the company, before issuing the letters of support, in order to determine whether there was a risk of a potential breach of the United Nations arms embargo on Iran.

The letters of support could therefore have risked drawing the DTI into what would have amounted to state-sponsored sanctions-busting in Iran.

The DA therefore welcomes the investigation into the letters of support and will push, not only for the investigation to be fast-tracked, but for the results of the investigation to be made public.

We cannot allow South Africa to become a conduit for the export of “dual use goods” which could be used for military purposes in violation of the United Nations arms embargo on Iran.