Publication	The Natal Witness
Date	2005-11-09
Reporter	Dries Liebenberg
Web Link	www.witness.co.za

Two French companies allegedly bribed former deputy president Jacob Zuma so that the politician's clandestine involvement in the arms deal, as well as Schabir Shaik's payments to him, would remain secret.

This allegation is made in the state's preliminary indictment against Zuma, Thint Holding and Thint (Pty) Ltd - two South African subsidiaries of the French group Thales.

Zuma's attorney, Michael Hulley, released the indictment Tuesday after receiving it from the Scorpions last Friday. But it will only be officially submitted in the Durban magistrate's court on Saturday during Zuma's next court appearance.

The state may still amend the charges before the trial starts in the Durban High Court on July 31 next year, but has meanwhile made it available to the accused to help speed up the trial.

The preliminary indictment states that Zuma and the French companies will each stand trial on two charges of corruption respectively.

Two of the charges relate to the alleged generally corrupt relationship between Zuma and Shaik and the rest to an alleged bribery agreement with Zuma in 2000, putatively to buy his protection in the investigation into the arms deal.

Zuma's former financial adviser, Shaik was sentenced earlier this year to 15 years in prison after being found guilty on similar charges.

The state will also use the far wider definitions of corruption in the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act, No 12 of 2004 in view of allegations that Shaik's payments in favour of Zuma did not end in 2002, but continued until 18 August this year.

The state claims that Shaik provided money and benefits to Zuma through the services he rendered in exchange for Zuma's favours and the use of the politician's name to promote Shaik's business interests.

The two Thales companies that also partnered Shaik's Nkobi group in various projects, benefited in turn from this relationship, the state alleges.

The state also plugged one of the loopholes in its case against Shaik.

Besides the prohibitions in South Africa's constitution that an MEC or the deputy president may not do any other paid work, the state now also refers to provisions in the ANC's constitution.

The ANC constitution describes corruption, the misuse of an ANC office for personal gain and the misuse of an office for self-enrichment, as serious offences.

The state argues that Zuma intervened on Shaik's behalf during the arms deal when the French had misgivings about the Nkobi group's suitability as partners.

The result of this alleged intervention - a finding that Judge Hilary Squires made in the Shaik trial in Zuma's ANC capacity - was that the Nkobi group eventually got a share together with Thint in the multimillion-rand subcontract to provide weapon systems for the navy's new corvettes.

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Not quite sure what the significance of the title of this article - the indictment was formally released by the NPA yesterday after agreement between the parties.

But a very good article, nonetheless.