Johannesburg - Defence and civil security group Saab AB on
Thursday night denied any link to Gauteng's e-tolling project.
It also denied having any interest whatsoever in an Austrian
company involved in the e-tolling project, Kapsch TrafficCom.
"Sanip, the jointly owned company responsible for
offset on the Gripen, has no role in South Africa's e-tolling or Gauteng
freeway improvement programme," Saab said in a statement.
Referring to reports suggesting such links, the company
pointed out that it had sold its traffic management unit, Combitech Traffic
Management, to Kapsch in January 2000 while the contract to supply 26 Gripen
fighters to South Africa had only come into effect in April 2000.
"Sanip was precluded by DTI (department of trade and
industry) regulations from any participation in infrastructure projects and
indeed was not involved in any such projects.
"Any attempt to link Kapsch, the Gauteng e-tolling
project, or the freeway improvement programme to Saab has no basis in fact.
"This includes attempts to create such a link by citing unattributed 'Australian newspaper reports'," Saab asserted.