Talk:Coventry Four

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[edit] 'Fifth man' professor identified in South African weapons ring

The following article by David Pallister and Richard Norton-Taylor appeared in The Guardian on Saturday December 17, 1988:

"A South African professor of electronics has confirmed that he was the mysterious "fifth man" who was arrested but never charged in the Coventry Four arms smuggling case which led to a Foreign Office diplomat, Mr Patrick Haseldine, being suspended last week.

Professor Johannes Cloete, of Stellenbosch University, denied that he was involved in the purchasing of weapon components but inquiries by the Guardian have shown that he was closely associated with Pretoria's missile development programme.

His release hours after his arrest, on the instruction of senior Whitehall officials, supports Mr Haseldine's allegation – contained in a letter to the Guardian – that the British and South African governments had an interest in not bringing the four to trial.

Mr Haseldine, who worked in the information department of the Foreign Office, complained in his letter that Mrs Thatcher's complaints against the Belgian and Irish governments over the Fr Patrick Ryan affair contrasted with the apparently soft attitude to agents of the "terrorist" South African state. The Coventry Four were South African businessmen at the centre of an arms buying ring. They were unusually allowed to return to South Africa on bail in 1984.

Professor Cloete was in England that year with one of the four, Jacobus Le Grange, a research engineer for Kentron, the South African missile production company. The pair visited a defence research project at the University of Sheffield and a Marconi factory to discuss infra-red guidance systems.

It is understood that some of Professor Cloete's research had been financed by the South African defence establishment. Six months before his arrest, Le Grange attended the Military Microwave Conference in London's Nova Hotel, according to the organisers of the event. Sources say Le Grange wrote the specification for components for his colleague, William Metelerkamp, a Kentron consultant who had direct contact with suppliers in Britain.

Professor Cloete admitted yesterday that his trip to Britain had scientific business connotations.

"Le Grange had nothing to do with the procurement of arms or components," he said. "I don't think he was breaking any British law or any other law." He claimed that Le Grange wanted to return to Britain for his trial, at which he would have pleaded not guilty. This conflicts with a press statement the four made in South Africa, which said:

"We do not recognise the validity of the UN arms embargo. We acted in the interests of South Africa. Our contribution has enabled us to develop an advanced weapon system."

A spokesman for HM Customs and Excise, which handled the case, said yesterday:

"We arrested and charged those people against whom we thought there was evidence to prosecute. In our investigations many people might be arrested and questioned but if they are not charged we cannot talk about them."

Mr Peter Lilley, Economic Secretary at the Treasury with responsibility for customs matters, has been unable to answer MPs' questions on the affair. This week he told Mr Dale Campbell-Savours that he would reply as soon as possible.

In 1984, the then Foreign Office minister, Mr Malcolm Rifkind, told the House that the South African government was wholly to blame for the mens' non-appearance in a British court, and that Pretoria should cooperate. In the event the men did not come back to stand trial and no action was taken against South Africa.

Mr Haseldine is awaiting a disciplinary hearing for his breach of the rule thatcivil servants should not comment publicly on government policy."