Someone’s Lying
Is the South African government in bed with Airbus?
“There is something fishy about the [South African] government’s A400M military transport aircraft deal with Airbus – I can smell it from a thousand miles,” writes a blogger for Times Live. “First Sipho Thomo, chief executive of the state-owned military acquisitions company Armscor, tells parliamentary portfolio committee on defense that cost overruns had pushed up the price of the eight aircraft they signed for in 2005 from R17-billion to about R47-billion. Then later on Airbus Military issues a statement denying the price increase saying they were still in ongoing discussions with the South African authorities. Now who is lying here, Thomo the buyer or Airbus the seller?”
