Pretoria - Presidential spokesperson Mac Maharaj maintains that he is innocent of any wrongdoing amid allegations that he tried to stop a newspaper from publishing a story, and that he and his wife received a bribe from a company that was later awarded a tender when he was Minister of Transport.
Maharaj has been making headlines since Friday when the weekly newspaper Mail and Guardian concealed their lead story -- which alleged that he lied when he was questioned under oath by the Scorpions during the arms deal investigation -- using a black band which read, "Censored". On page two, where the main story was carried, the paragraphs that pertained to Maharaj were blacked out.
Two days later, the Sunday Times ran a front page story alleging that Maharaj and his wife pocketed millions of rands from French weapons maker, Thales.
The same company will be in the spotlight as government has opened a Commission of Inquiry into allegations of fraud, corruption, impropriety or irregularity into the Strategic Defence Procurement Package.
Today at the National Press Club briefing, Maharaj started off his address on media diversity, freedom of speech and expression, saying they were absolutely essential to a vibrant democracy.
He then moved to the "pain" that his family has endured ever since the story broke several years back. The story, Maharaj said, was not new but just part of a larger investigation carried out between 2002 and 2007 by the police unit Scorpions when he was still the Minister of Transport.
He told the packed press briefing that even then investigations had found him not guilty of any wrongdoing.
"I have maintained the view [since 2003] that I have not been involved in the awarding of those two tenders," said Maharaj, who refused to be drawn into a "trial by the media".
Asked if he had taken the money, Maharaj responded: "I see you will persist, let me say it again... the Thales investigation resulted in no charge."
Maharaj has formally laid charges against the Mail and Guardian, along with senior reporters Sam Sole and Stefaans Br~mmer who wrote the story, for allegedly unlawfully obtaining evidence provided by Maharaj in the previous National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) inquiry into the arms deal.
He said he had not gone to the NPA to ask how the newspapers had got hold of the investigation recordings but said he had laid charges against the newspaper as he had proof that it had received the information illegally.
"I have evidence that the Mail and Guardian has committed a crime and that is why I laid charges ... they should have known that leaking Section 28 evidence is unlawful, therefore they are complicit," he said, adding that he would let the courts decided what was criminal.
He did not want to speculate about how or who gave the Mail and Guardian the information, saying it would make him "paranoid".
He further supported the commission set up to investigate the arms deal, saying it would clear his name again.
He asked the media to debate the issues rationally rather than emotionally.
