Explosive new evidence suggesting that top politicians and businessmen pocketed about R480-million from the multibillion-rand arms deal has been revealed in Parliament.

Updating the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) yesterday, Hawks head Anwa Dramat spoke of startling new evidence collected in yet another investigation into the R43-billion deal.

Only one politician, Tony Yengeni, has been sent to jail for receiving bribes, directly or indirectly, from European arms manufacturers.

Dramat said R480-million in bribes might have been paid to "top figures" by companies to secure contracts for the supply of fighter aircraft and naval vessels.

The Hawks have collected 460 boxes of documentary evidence, as well as 4.7million computer-generated documents, which investigators obtained when raiding seven buildings around the country.

But now there is only one investigator on the case.

Though the evidence is potentially explosive, Dramat said it could take up to 10 years and cost R10-million to investigate and prosecute those implicated.

The Hawks and the National Prosecuting Authority updated Parliament on their investigation yesterday.

Though no names were mentioned in Parliament, Fana Hlongwane, an adviser to former defence minister Joe Modise, and Chippy Schaik, the former head of arms acquisition in the defence department, have been mentioned in the course of the investigation.

Said Dramat: "It will take quite a few years for us to complete the investigation as it is heavily dependent on the co-operation of foreign authorities and on the willingness of witnesses abroad in terms of testifying. We need to seriously get some direction in terms of whether one would want to take that specific route," he said.

But opposition MPs accused the Hawks and the NPA of dragging their feet. They hinted at political interference "at the top" to frustrate the investigation.

The arms deal investigation dates back to the mid-1990s, when allegations surfaced that high-profile figures, including Modise, had received hefty kickbacks.

The kickbacks were alleged to have been paid in return for favouring the tenders of the German Frigate Consortium, which was bidding to supply ships to the navy, and of British Aerospace (BAe), which was bidding to supply Hawk trainer jets for the air force.

The Scorpions reopened the investigation in 2008 and raided Hlongwane's home and the Pretoria offices of British Aerospace.

A 2001 report by a joint investigation team of the Public Protector, the auditor-general and the NPA exonerated the government - but it questioned Modise's role in the selection of the Hawk trainer jets though there were cheaper options.

But the report was dismissed as a whitewash by opposition MPs. It was claimed that the original report had been "sanitised" and a non-incriminating version presented to Parliament.

Dramat said R300-million in kickbacks might have been paid in respect of the BAe contract.

Investigations into the German Frigate Consortium concern allegations of bribes amounting to R180-million.

Former Scorpions investigator Johan du Plooy, now with the Hawks, has been working on the German Frigate Consortium case.

The matter was referred to the Specialised Crimes Unit because the Hawks are waiting for a response to their request to the NPA that a judge be appointed to ask for legal assistance from German authorities.

Dramat said the BAe investigation was complicated by the fact that BAe had entered into a plea bargain with the UK's Serious Fraud Office, which has since closed its case.

He said witnesses in the UK and other countries might now be reluctant to help South African investigators.

Opposition MPs accused both Dramat and national director of public prosecutions Menzi Simelane of dragging their feet.

DA MP David Maynier said it was clear that the investigation was going nowhere.

"What we have heard today is that there is an investigation in which there are 460 boxes of documents, 4.7million computer-generated documents - and one investigator assigned to the investigation. I conclude from that, that what we are dealing with here is a non-investigation," he said.

IFP MP Narend Singh said the investigation's price tag should not be a reason for ending it. He said it had taken too long to get to the bottom of arms-deal corruption.

"It's a good return on investment to spend R10-million to chase R480-million, if we can get it," he said.

A fuming Patricia de Lille - whose dossier was the first to give details of arms deal-related corruption - told The Times yesterday that Dramat was "out of order" when he blamed costs or lack of co-operation by overseas agencies for his unit dragging its feet.

"It's totally out of order . there is no way you can put costs to the pursuit of justice," she said.

"The investigations must continue because there is more than enough evidence. The NPA is sitting with a schedule of South Africans who received bribes from BAe; they don't need to hide behind Britain and Germany. They will deal with their crooks; we must deal with our crooks."

UDM leader Bantu Holomisa said the investigation was bound to stall as long as Simelane was in charge.

He said Simelane had been responsible for frustrating the Scorpions' arms-deal investigation when he was director-general of the Justice Department.

Simelane told Scopa: "The matter will be dealt with in accordance with the law and as reasonably and as possibly as we can.

"We are not going to do anything that compromises any investigation just because it suits certain individuals or parties that are interested in this matter."

KEY MOMENTS

• January 1997: Police investigate the circumstances surrounding the theft of classified military documents.
• 1999: The government concludes the controversial arms deal.
• December 2000: Shauket Fakie, who would eventually give the arms deal a clean bill of health in his report, is officially appointed as auditor-general.
• Judge Willem Heath is removed as head of the investigative unit following a Constitutional Court judgment.
• October 2001: Tony Yengeni is arrested on charges of corruption. He later pleads guilty to a charge of defrauding Parliament. He is sentenced to time in prison, but is appealing against his sentence.
• November 2001: Economists Allied for Arms Reduction applies to the Cape Town High Court to have the arms deal declared unconstitutional. "We cannot afford it," says Ecaar-SA's head, Terry Crawford Browne.

• Chippy Shaik, a former procurement chief, is suspended from the department of defence. He later resigns.
• The joint task team finds no wrongdoing on the side of the government in the conclusion of the arms deal.