SOUTH AFRICAN President Jacob Zuma announced yesterday that an inquiry he commissioned into a 1999 multibillion-rand arms deal had revealed no fraud.

Britain’s BAE Systems, Sweden’s Saab, Germany’s Thyssen Krupp and France’s Thales and Thomson-CSF were all accused of offering bribes to secure lucrative contracts to supply warships, tanks, jet fighters and helicopters to the South African military.

Mr Zuma was sacked as vice-president in 2005 after his associate Schabir Shaik was convicted of corruption and fraud with respect to the deal and his relationship with Mr Zuma.