Johannesburg — FINANCE Minister Trevor Manuel has defended his decision to commit SA to 20-year loan agreements used to fund the controversial R30bn arms deal, in documents filed in the Cape High Court.

Apart from the weighty job of delivering the budget this week, Manuel has been preparing for a court bid scheduled for Monday to gag anti-arms deal activist Terry Crawford-Browne, who has allegedly spent more than R5m in legal fees in unsuccessful bids to have the deal cancelled.

Manuel, in his court papers, said of the loan agreements: "I was satisfied that such an agreement constituted the most effective and economic way of financing the arms acquisition package.

"My decision was taken upon the advice of relevant experts and of the treasury, the overall conclusion was that no other form of finance would be more beneficial to the republic."

The arms deal is a hot topic with judgment expected soon in a judicial review in the UK into bribery allegations against defence company British Aerospace Systems (BAe), which is supplying aircraft to SA.

The African National Congress's national executive committee (NEC) and Parliament's standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) hav e both indicated they plan to look at the deal again.

Manuel is appealing to the court for an order restraining Crawford-Browne from "making or publishing any defamatory matter" concerning the minister.

He said the alleged defamatory comments were harmful to his reputation personally and as finance minister. He would take further legal action in future.

Crawford-Browne has repeatedly argued in the media and his recently released "tell-all" book, Eye on the Money, that the Barclays Bank loan agreements, which run until 2019, were a risky endeavour for a developing country, based as they were on foreign currency.

Crawford-Browne called it a classic example of "third-world debt entrapment".

He also contended that the offset programme, which the government has used to justify the deal, had failed to yield the promised 65000 jobs.

He held Manuel responsible for the deal going through, saying that as a member of the ad hoc committee charged with overseeing arms procurement, he should have vetoed the deal in light of its financial and economic risks.

Manuel said in his legal documents that the defamatory comments made by Crawford-Browne on his blog site were harmful to the minister's personal and professional reputation.

Manuel took exception to a number of statements in Crawford-Browne's book , one of them being: "The minister of finance, without requisite authority, has negotiated massive foreign currency liabilities for up to 20 years, to finance the arms deal.

"He has also certified to foreign bankers that he has the necessary power to make these commitments. This may be a fraudulent use of his powers."

Manuel said: "I deny that I am guilty of criminal conduct as alleged by Crawford-Browne.

"The claims are based on various contentions which, even if accepted for present purposes as true (though I deny that they are true in important respects), quite simply do not constitute evidence that I have committed any crime of the sort alleged."