Cape Town, South Africa - South Africa's President Jacob Zuma’s official spokesperson Mac Maharaj has become the latest high-profile politician to be implicated in the country's multi-billion dollar arms deal scandal.  A local newspaper investigation alleged that Maharaj received millions in bribes from French weapons maker Thales, the company that will be at the centre of the government's arms deal inquiry next year.

The two-month investigation uncovered a paper trail that leads from the arms company to Maharaj and his wife Zarina.

Schabir Shaik, Zuma's former financial adviser who was convicted of corruption in the arms deal trial, was reportedly the conduit used by Thales to channel the money to Zarina Maharaj.

The Sunday Times claims to have unearthed an agreement that shows that secret payments totalling 1.2 million French francs went from the arms dealer's French bank to offshore bank accounts belonging to Maharaj's wife Zarina, just two months before her husband's department awarded the company a controversial credit card licence tender.

Maharaj this weekend laid charges against the Mail

Pana 21/11/2011