JOHANNESBURG, Aug. 3 (Xinhua) -- South African President Thabo Mbeki on Sunday said he had a clear conscience about a multi-million rand arms deal.

This follows a Sunday Times report which said Mbeki was allegedly paid 30 million rand by a German shipbuilding company to guarantee it would receive a submarine contract in the arms deal.

The newspaper said in an article on Sunday that a secret report compiled in 2007 by a British specialist risk company revealed the deal.

Mbeki allegedly gave 2 million rand of the money to ANC President Jacob Zuma and the rest to the ruling party.

"That story is not true," Mbeki told a Free State Imbizo at Wepener in the Free State. He said the ANC had taught him to always serve the people.

The South African Press Association quoted Mbeki as saying that the country was fighting a hard struggle against corruption and that it was not possible to "fight corruption if we ourselves are corrupt".