Verdict still out on Zuma
2005-06-02 13:02
Durban - The national prosecuting authority welcomed the conviction of Durban businessman Schabir Shaik on Thursday, but declined to say whether it intended to prosecute deputy president Jacob Zuma.
"The national director of public prosecutions Vusi Pikoli will need to consider the judgment. If there is anything to be done about it... it will be done," Makhosini Nkosi told reporters outside the Durban High Court.
He said the conviction vindicated the decision to prosecute Shaik.
"It has always been our conviction that he has a serious case to answer in court."
Prosecutor Billy Downer SC said sentencing proceedings would commence on Friday morning.
Shaik is to remain on bail until sentencing is concluded.
The High Court found Shaik, who has ties to deputy president Jacob Zuma, guilty of corruption in a verdict that could put a damper on the number two's presidential ambitions.
Judge Hilary Squires found Schabir Shaik guilty of corruption and fraud for paying kickbacks and bribes to Zuma.
"Since all the accused's companies were used at one time or another to pay sums of money to Jacob Zuma in contravention of sections... of the corruption act, and accused number one directed them to that end or made payments himself, all the accused are found guilty on the main charge of count one," said Squires at the end of a lengthy judgement.
Dashing Zuma's hopes for president
Count one dealt with general corruption in which Shaik and his company Nkobi holdings had dealings with Zuma.
Shaik was accused of paying Zuma R1.3m between 1995 and 2001 to ensure the senior politician used his influence to help secure lucrative business deals.
He was also charged of brokering a bribe between Zuma and French arms firm Thint, the South African subsidiary of Thales International - formerly known as Thomson-CSF - in which Thint would pay Zuma R500 000 a year in return for shielding the French company from investigation into a controversial arms deal.
A guilty verdict for Shaik could dash Zuma's hopes of succeeding President Thabo Mbeki when his second and last term in office ends in 2009.
Zuma, 63, a Zulu who has been deputy president since 1999, is seen as the frontrunner for the top post. - AFP
- SAPA