Full transcript of Shaik judgment
09/06/2005 13:29  - (SA)  

This is the full text of the judgment delivered by Judge Hillary Squires in Durban High Court on June 1-2, convicting businessman Schabir Shaik on charges of fraud and corruption.

THE STATE versus SCHABIR SHAIK & 11 OTHERS

JUDGMENT 31 MAY 2005

The accused persons in this trial are Mr Schabir Shaik, who is accused No 1, and ten of the corporate entities that are part of his group of private companies. There are other companies in that group but these proceedings are not concerned with them and, of those charged, some played a noticeably more active role than others. But, whether by reason of being the sole shareholder or only a majority shareholder in each company and whether he owned such shares directly or indirectly through another company, Schabir Shaik effectively controlled all of them.

There was originally another corporate accused in these proceedings by the name of Thint (Pty) Limited. This company was initially called Thomson-CSF (Pty) Limited, and was a subsidiary of another eponymous company called Thomson-CSF Holdings (Southern Africa) (Pty) Limited. These two companies came into existence pursuant to an agreement reached by Schabir Shaik in mid-1995 with Thomson-CSF (France), the French-based defence and electronics giant which was by then re-establishing a foothold in this country, especially in the Government-driven defence and public works sector programmes being contemplated and started after 1994. That agreement committed Thomson-CSF (France) to pursue its business in this country on a joint venture basis with the Nkobi group of companies already established or to be established by accused No 1. On that basis was Thomson-CSF Holdings (Southern Africa) (Pty) Limited incorporated on 27 May 1996 and in which Thomson-CSF (France) held 85 of the 100 shares issued, Nkobi Investments (accused No 3) held 10 and a Swiss-based company called Gestilac SA held the remaining 5. As the name indicates, this was to be the holding company of Thomson's interests in this country, so another company was incorporated on 16 July 1996, through which its anticipated operations would be carried on and in which Thomson-CSF Holdings held 70% of the shares and Nkobi Investments held 30%. That was Thomson-CSF (Pty) Limited and, by subsequent change of name, in August 2003 it became known as Thint (Pty) Limited. Although the charges against it were withdrawn before the plea, it still plays an important role in the trial, especially in respect of count 3, in the commission of which the State said it was a co-accused and still alleges that it was a participant in the offences charged in that count.

The accused are charged with three main counts, but in each count there are a number of lesser alternative charges. Three of these are against Schabir Shaik only, but all the rest are directed at both him and his companies.

The main charge on count 1 is that of contravening section 1(1)(a) of the Corruption Act No 94 of 1992. That is both sub-paragraphs (i) and (ii) of sub-section (a). This alleges that over the period of time from October 1995 to 30 September 2002, and taking place in or about Durban, Shaik, or one or other of his accused companies, gratuitously made some 238 separate payments of money, either directly to or for the benefit of Mr Jacob Zuma, who held high political office throughout this period.

Initially, from 1994 to 1999, he was the Minister for Economic Affairs and Tourism in the Provincial Legislature of KwaZulu-Natal and after June 1999 the Deputy President of the country and leader of Government business in its Parliament. Besides that, and also throughout this period, he held high office in the ruling political party, first as the National Chairman until 1997 and thereafter as its Deputy President. Over those years a total sum of R1 340 078 was so paid to Jacob Zuma, and the State claims that this was done corruptly, the object being to influence Zuma to use his name and political influence for the benefit of Shaik's business enterprises or as an ongoing reward for having done so from time to time.

There is a bit more to count 1 than this bald recital of the wording may indicate. All the charges in this case were preceded by a lengthy preamble which set out the main background facts upon which the charges are framed and which is to be read with the charges. The wider picture thus presented was widened even further by a lengthy request on behalf of the accused for further particulars to both the preamble and the charges, to which the State made an equally copious reply. From the full result of all this additional information, it emerges that the State case is not the usual corruption charge of one payment for one act or omission in the line of the recipient's duty. It is that the payments made by the accused effectively constituted a type of retainer by which accused No 1 agreed, expressly or impliedly, to pay these many expenses over this period to Zuma or for his benefit or to make cash payments to him as and when he needed such financial help, while he, in return, would render such assistance as he could to further the accused's interests, as and when asked. It is not alleged that there was any particular payment for any particular act or omission of duty. It is the same kind of activity that is penalised by the Act but carried out in this particular way in this case. That must be an offence under the Act, otherwise it would be too easy to avoid its provisions.

Secondly, it is clear that the acts or omissions attributed to Jacob Zuma in this charge are alleged to be those inherent in his offices of Minister of Economic Affairs and Tourism in the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature over the first period covered by the charge, that is from October 1995 to mid-1999, and thereafter as Deputy President of the National Government and leader of the Government business in Parliament. This aspect assumed some importance in the hearing because Mr Downer sought to urge the argument that the ambit of Zuma's duties and powers should be interpreted as including such acts as he carried out on behalf of the accused's interests as Deputy President of the ANC before he became Deputy President of the National Government and while he was still a member of the Executive Council of the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature.

That cannot be accepted for two reasons. In the first place, it is not alleged in the charge that the accused's intention in giving the alleged benefits to Zuma was to influence him in the discharge of any duties he may have as Deputy President of the ANC. But, secondly, whatever those powers or duties are, if any, they are not a power that is "conferred by law", as the Corruption Act requires, or held in any other office of the State that is created by law. If the tenure of that office did impose a duty or range of duties on the holder to act in the public interest and that was stated in the charge, then it could fall into the Act if a bribe was paid to the holder who discharged such duties or failed to do so to the benefit of anyone who was offering the payment. But that is not the case here, and such acts as the evidence shows might have been carried out by Jacob Zuma solely in his capacity as Deputy President of the ANC would not be covered by the charge.

Mr van Zyl, on the other hand, as I understood him, sought to argue, in identifying the ambit of the charge, that the acts that Zuma was allegedly intended to commit or omit to do in respect of the payments in the schedule included those listed in paragraph 11 of the State's reply to the accused's request for further particulars. That meant that the case was that Zuma breached his ministerial duties by "allowing" Schabir Shaik to do various things, like advertise his relationship with Zuma and use the title of "financial advisor" to Zuma in brochures and correspondence, when there was no evidence that Zuma even knew this was being done, let alone allowed it to happen.

That seems to me to be a misconception for I do not think the charge, as amplified, reads that way. The emphasis is not on what Zuma allowed in breach of any duty, it is on what the accused intended he, Shaik, would achieve, in making the payments he did, and one of which intended results was to advertise this connection. Then, as a first alternative to this charge, if a corrupt motive for these payments is not established, then Schabir Shaik himself is charged with contravening section 424(3) of the Companies Act of 1973, in that, by making the payments he caused to be made to Zuma through his companies and, as the controlling mind of those companies, he carried on their business recklessly or with the intention of defrauding their creditors. That follows, says the State, because it was not the business of any of these companies to pay or even lend money to politicians, particularly when those companies were chronically in a situation of cash shortage and unable to pay ordinary creditors, effectively borrowing money from the banks to make these payments to Zuma and making them interest-free.

Then, in the event that the carrying on of the business in this way is not regarded as reckless or to the loss of creditors, there is a second alternative charge to count 1, in the shape of a contravention of section 226(1)(a)(i) of the Companies Act, which section forbids the making of loans by a company to a director without the prior consent of all the shareholders of the company, or in terms of a special resolution authorising such loans. In addition, he is charged with contravening section 226(4)(b) of that Act, a corollary of section 226(1)(a) and which forbids a director from being a party to the acceptance of such a loan.

It is the State's case that many, if not all, of the payments to Zuma, though from the funds of one or other of his companies, were appropriated and used by Shaik in order to pass on to Zuma and reflected thereafter as a loan to Shaik in the company's books.

Then the second main charge is one of fraud, and it arises out of the framing and signing of the annual financial statements of the accused group of companies for the financial year ending 28 February 1999. It is alleged that in the audit process carried on for that year, which produced these financial statements and which audit took place in late November 1999, three loan accounts in the accounting books of accused No 4, Kobifin (Pty) Limited, which were reflected in the names of accused No 9, accused No 10 and accused No 1, respectively, and which, in Shaik's case also included his director's remuneration and a loan indebtedness to Proconsult (Pty) Limited, which is accused No 6, in a total amount of R1 282 000, were written off such accounts, and that was done on the false pretext that they were expenses incurred in the setting up of the polyester driver's licence card contract with the Department of Transport known as the Prodiba project. That misrepresentation concealed the true nature of the writing off of these loan accounts, which was to extinguish the debts owed by those three persons to Kobifin, which debts included R268 775,69 of the money paid to or on behalf of Jacob Zuma up to that year, month and day and the action concealed that fact from shareholders, from creditors of the group, including the bank that provided the overdraft facilities, and from the Receiver of Revenue.

To this main charge there are also a number of alternative charges. The first alternative is one of theft levelled against accused No 1, Schabir Shaik, only, in that if there was no fraud proved in the facts established by the main count then, by writing off his debt owed to Kobifin (Pty) Limited, he effectively stole that sum of money from that company.

The second alternative consists of three separate counts. First, it is said that by framing the false accounts in this misleading way and ostensibly reducing the amount of Shaik's remuneration, the accused did so, amongst other objectives, to evade assessment to tax in contravention of section 104(1)(c) of the Income Tax Act. Secondly, they are charged with not keeping accounting records that were necessary to fairly present the state of affairs of the business of these companies, in contravention of section 284(4)(a) of the Companies Act, as read with the penalty sections of that Act. This is charged because, it is said, the accounting records so prepared did not reveal, as they should have done, that this written-off amount had the effect of extinguishing the debts owed to Kobifin by accused No 1, by Clegton Investments (Pty) Limited and Floryn Investments (Pty) Limited, and which included all the payments made to Zuma from those accounts up to then.

As a third and final alternative to this count, the State alleges that, in contravention of section 250(1) of the Companies Act accused No 1 only, as a director of these companies, falsified or made those false entries with intent to defraud or deceive in the books of account or financial statements of the companies.

Then, finally, as the main charge on count 3, there is a further allegation of corruption, this one in contravention of section 1(1)(a)(i) only, of the Corruption Act. That arises from the following circumstances. As a consequence of the revelations by Miss Patricia de Lille in Parliament on 9 September 1999 about allegations of corruption during the process of bidding for contracts in the Government arms acquisition programme and her moving of a notice of motion in Parliament for the appointment of a judicial commission of inquiry to investigate these allegations, there were an increasing number of calls in the media for a public inquiry into the matter, eventually including resort to the Special Investigation Unit of Judge Heath. That was reinforced by the Minister of Defence agreeing on 28 September 1999 that the normal review of such an acquisition exercise carried out by the Auditor-General's department would in this instance be regarded as one of high risk, which meant particular attention would be paid in the audit process to the way in which agreements or bidding awards were reached and contracts concluded.

The State alleges that on 30 September 1999, and at Durban, accused No 1, acting for himself and all the presently-charged companies, met the local director of the Thomson-CSF South African companies, one Alain Thétard. At this meeting the suggestion was made, either by Shaik or by Thétard that, in return for the payment by Thomson's to Zuma of R500 000 a year until another suitable source of revenue became available in the form of dividends from ADS, a situation that is dealt with later, Zuma would shield Thomson's from the anticipated inquiry and thereafter support and promote Thomson's business interests in this country. Whoever made this suggestion, the State claims that the proposal so discussed was then put by Thétard on a visit to the Paris head office of the Thomson group on 10 November 1999 to the director for Africa and Thétard's superior, one Jean-Paul Perrier, and approved by him. Then, to set the seal on the matter at a further meeting, again in Durban, on 11 March 2000, and this time between accused No 1, Thétard and Jacob Zuma, Jacob Zuma confirmed his acceptance of the proposal to Thétard, who thereafter on 17 March 2000 sent a telefax message to his superiors in Paris from the local Thomson office in Pretoria, advising them that the proposal was confirmed and accepted.

Then there are two alternative charges to count 3 as well, both alleging contraventions of the Prevention of Organized Crime Act No 121 of 1998, and both stemming from the alleged requested payment of R1 million to Zuma, but arising out of the method by which such payment was to be made.

The first such alternative is an alleged contravention of sections 4(a) and 4(b) of that Act, in that, knowing that payment of these sums of R500 000 was unlawful, the accused, including the erstwhile accused No 11, entered into an agreement called a service provider agreement, which had, or was likely to have, the effect of concealing or disguising the nature and disposition of those payments and thereafter caused accused No 5, Kobitech (Pty) Limited, to pay some entity called Development Africa an amount of R250 000 and to issue three post-dated cheques for R750 000, all for the benefit of Jacob Zuma in discharging his obligation to pay Development Africa for the building of his rural home at Nkandla, the total sum being R1 million.

As a second alternative to count 3, the accused are charged with contravening section 6(a), (b) or (c) of the same Act, in that, knowing the R500 000 a year payable by Thomson-CSF to Zuma was the proceeds of unlawful activities, the accused, particularly accused No 1, accused No 5 and thereafter accused No 4, had the first payment of R500 000 in their possession during that period.

The accused's answer to all these charges is not simply a bare denial. The commission of any of the offences alleged is certainly disputed but there is a considerable measure of acceptance of many of the objective facts that form the bases of the State case. What is put clearly in contention are specific instances of conflicting evidence and the inferences that the prosecution seeks to draw from those objective facts.

So far as count 1 is concerned, for example, there is very little, if any, dispute over the actual payments made over the period alleged by the various accused to or for the benefit of Jacob Zuma. All but a small number were admitted. Some were explained as being misunderstood and two categories of others as being contributions to the ANC, and not payments to or for Zuma. But it was the accused's case that, of those that were so paid to or for Jacob Zuma, they were paid for altruistic motives and accepted by Zuma only on the basis that they would be repaid, a condition reluctantly agreed to by Schabir Shaik, and it was for this reason that two acknowledgments of debt were drawn up on or about 5 March 1998, in the sums of R200 000 and R140 000, respectively. Subsequently both such acknowledgments of debt and all the amounts advanced up till then paid to Zuma or paid for his benefit were later replaced by a revolving interest-bearing loan of R2 million, repayable after five years from the date appearing on the face of the agreement, which is 16 May 1999. Nor is it disputed that, on one occasion at least in 1998, Zuma was asked by Shaik or might even himself have taken the initiative to try and restore the interest of the Nkobi group to the benefit of the profits that ADS would earn from the design, supply and installation of the munitions suite of the new corvettes for the Navy in circumstances that are dealt with later. But this was done quite openly and on notice to the then-President of the ANC, Zuma being the Deputy President of that body, and "on the basis of friendship", not financial reward. But, apart from that, it is denied that in fact any assistance was gained from Jacob Zuma as a result of these payments. On the contrary, of all the contracts for which an Nkobi company tendered in KwaZulu-Natal during the period of Zuma's tenure of office on the Executive Council of that province, only one was awarded, and that was not by Zuma's Ministry of Economic Affairs and Tourism.

Nor was there any substance in the alternative charges under the Companies Act. Accused No 1 said that he had instructed the accounting department in the head office of the Nkobi group of companies to keep a full record of all payments made to or on behalf of Zuma on company accounts, as well as his own personal account, and to debit such payments made from any company account against his own loan account.

Then, in answer to count 2, the accused accepted both the incorrect nature of the several relevant journal entries and the false explanation of them given in the annual financial statements for the year ended 28 February 1999, on which the State relies as the actus reus for this charge. But Shaik says that this was done on the initiative of the auditors and his accountant, who prepared the statements and without his knowledge of their wrongfulness or that the effect would be possibly unlawful. When this was made known to him some two years later, and on taking legal advice about the matter he authorised the reversal of all these incorrect entries and the rectification of this fundamental error. He had no intention whatever of defrauding anyone and did not authorise the keeping or maintaining of false books of account or of the falsification of any records of his companies.

Then, in answer to count 3, the response of the accused is in two parts. First, while the several meetings between the identified persons alleged in the charge did take place on the days alleged by the State, save that 11 March was moved to 10 March, these were held to discuss the making of a donation to the KwaZulu-Natal Jacob Zuma Education Trust. Secondly, while the factual existence of the service provider agreement is not disputed, the amount of remuneration for the service in question was only R500 000, payable in two instalments, and not R1 million, as alleged by the State. Thomson-CSF International (Mauritius), a subsidiary of the Paris parent, only made one such payment and then eventually terminated the agreement.

Such other money as was also paid to the Development Africa entity came from a different internal, and entirely legitimate source, being part of a donation of R2 million from the former President of the country, made on 16 October 2000, and intended for two benevolent fund purposes. Half of that amount was to be devoted to the KwaZulu-Natal Government Jacob Zuma Education Trust, and which amount was so paid on 17 October 2000. The balance of R900 000 of the other R1 million, which was actually intended for the benefit of traditional leaders in KwaZulu-Natal, was transferred from Zuma's bank account by accused No 1, as Zuma's appointed financial adviser and acting under a general authority to move such monies, to the account of accused No 10 at a time when accused No 1 had no knowledge of any other such destination. It was only R900 000 because R100 000 had been automatically deducted by the bank in reduction of Zuma's overdraft. But once Shaik found out that there was such an entity called Development Africa and that its existence was for the benefit of traditional leaders in KwaZulu-Natal and the Zulu Royal Household, he had what was needed of the funds transferred from accused No 10 to Development Africa Trust, where it was used for that intended purpose.

There was nothing illegal about either source of such money and the single payment made under the service provider agreement had nothing whatever to do with an alleged scheme to disguise any bribe for Zuma from the Thomson group. It was the first payment under the service provider agreement that I have referred to. For the same essential reasons, there was no contravention of section 4(1) or 4(2) of the Prevention of Organized Crime Act of 1998. The R250 000 admittedly received from Thomson-CSF International Limited in Mauritius was not the proceeds of any unlawful activity and, neither the service provider agreement, nor Jacob Zuma's Nkandla development were transactions likely to have the effect of disguising the nature or disposition of this money or enabling anyone to avoid prosecution. Nor was possession of the sum of R250 000, nor any part of the R2 million received from the former President a contravention of section 6(a) or (b) or (c) of the Act, because none of these sums was the proceeds of any unlawful activity of any other person.

Now, from that recital of the several charges and the accused's answers to them, what then are the issues that fall to be decided? Before embarking on consideration of the issues and the facts relevant to them, particularly as they arise in counts 1 and 3, it may be convenient to set out the nature and extent of what is regarded as corruption in breach of Act 94 of 1992. In the common law what is now called corruption was called bribery but, because of its historical origins, it was only applied to the offence as committed by or in respect of State officials. As it became increasingly obvious over time that the same lack of morality could take place in the private commercial sector, and to obviate difficulty in deciding whether an offender was a State official or not, the common law was extended by a succession of statutory enactments, the last of which was Act 6 of 1958, which was also amended from time to time. These created a separate statutory offence to cover those offences of bribery that were not related to a State official.

The Corruption Act of 1992, under which the accused are presently arraigned, repeals both the common law of bribery and the 1958 Prevention of Corruption Act and replaces them with a provision intended to penalise corruption in the widest sense and in all its forms. To constitute the offence under sub-paragraph (1) of section 1(a) of the Act, as the language now used indicates, there must be, first, a giving of or an offer or agreement to give; secondly, a benefit that is not legally due; thirdly, to a person who is vested with the carrying out of any duty, by virtue of his holding of an office or by reason of his employment or in his capacity as an agent or by any law; fourthly, with the intention of influencing that person to do an act or omit to do some act in the performance of that duty; fifthly, that the giving or offer of such benefit was done corruptly and therefore unlawfully; and, finally, that it was done intentionally, but that is really part of being done corruptly. Under sub-paragraph (ii) of the sub-section, the giving of such benefit is corrupt if it is given after the person charged with the duty has committed or omitted the act that constitutes the misuse or neglect of such duty as a reward for so doing.

So the giving of a benefit is corrupt when it is done with the intention of influencing the recipient of the benefit to perform or disregard his duty, so as to give the donor of the benefit an unfair advantage over others or as a reward for having done so before the benefit is given. If the recipient accepts such benefit for that reason, then the donor commits an offence under sub-paragraph (ii) of section 1(a) of the Act. That is the difference between "future" and "past" corruption.

The reason for punishing corruption in the private sector is that it subverts the principle of lawful competition and free enterprise because the corruptor may be offering the bribe to obtain preferment over some competitor whose product or services is actually better than the offeror, but who cannot or will not resort to bribery. And in the public sector it is punished because society has an interest in the transparency and integrity of public administration. It is at least the duty of State officials in the discharge of any power conferred by the State to exercise their administrative capacity as required by section 195(1) of the Constitution. This provision requires, amongst others, that these duties be provided "impartially, fairly, equitably and without bias". The conditions on which they hold their particular office may require more. But with no other such benchmark, all would be required to discharge the duty as the Constitution requires. So when benefits are given to State officials to influence them or him or her to depart from this level of their duty, or even to do their duty to the advantage of the donor, that would be given corruptly; and the same applies if the benefit is given subsequently as a reward for such exercised duty.

The act of giving or offering to give some benefit is largely self-explanatory. There must be some overt physical expression of the intention to do so, usually by a statement or action to that effect. But it may also be implied by conduct, as long as the conduct is clear enough to be recognised as such a statement or offer. Nor is the benefit confined only to money. The Act says: "Any benefit of whatever nature which is not legally due."

Such benefit would usually consist of actual money or money's worth, but it is clearly not limited to that. Indirect economic or patrimonial benefit such as an award of a tender or employment promotion would also be included, and the word could also include non-patrimonial benefit, such as withdrawal of a criminal charge, passing an examination or nomination to some prestigious position or, indeed, any benefit seen by the recipient as being sufficiently valuable in his eyes to influence the exercise of whatever duty it is he has to discharge. As long as whatever is given or offered or sought is not legally due and is so given or sought, either to persuade someone to perform a duty or not perform it to the advantage of the donor, or with the undertaking, express or implied, that it will subsequently be so performed, then it will breach this provision.

The person in respect of whom corruption may be committed by an offeror must be:

"A person upon whom any power has been conferred or has been charged with any duty by virtue of any employment or the holding of any office or any relationship of agency or any law."

That is obviously a very much wider breadth of potential corruptees than a person employed by the State. Quite apart from those whose duties are prescribed by the terms of their employment, this prohibition applies to anyone, whether official of the State or not, who exercises the power derived from any law and that clearly includes a power conferred or a duty charged under or by the supreme law itself, the Constitution.

Then so far as the corruptor is concerned, what is penalised under sub-paragraph (i) of sub-section (1)(a) is the giving or offering of a benefit with the intention of influencing the recipient to commit or omit to do "any act in relation to such power or duty". So even if it is not, in truth, the function of that recipient to achieve the desired result or that result in fact falls outside his act for duty, but who is even mistakenly seen by the corruptor as a means to achieving that corrupt result, then the offeror commits an offence nevertheless. As long as the corruptor sees the recipient of a benefit as the means to achieving a corrupt result, then that offeror commits the offence. Under sub-paragraph (ii) the giving of the benefit is corrupt if it is given as a reward for duty done or not done to the advantage of the donor.

Then, finally, it remains to make clear that such giving is done corruptly if it is done with the intention of persuading or influencing the recipient to act other than in impartial or proper discharge of his or her prescribed duties to the advantage of the donor or some other indicated person. As part of this requirement, the giving of the benefit or offer to give it must be unlawful, which means it is of a nature not sanctioned by society's perception of what is just or acceptably proper, and it is this requirement that excludes from the ambit of corruption under the Act the giving of tips as a reward for some service done well enough to deserve some recognition, or lunches or entertainment facilities for clients or customers that are a common practice among many business activities, though that may depend on the nature and extent of the benefit.

The overall dispute in count 1 is, of course, whether the payments admittedly made to or on behalf of Jacob Zuma were made "corruptly". That is to say were benefits made with the intention of influencing him to use the weight of his political offices to protect or further the business interests of the accused? This contains at least these sub-issues: first, whether these sums were loans, as the accused claims, or simply payments for Zuma's goodwill, as the State alleges, and included in this is the further question that, even if these were loans, the basis on which they were made was still not "a benefit" in terms of the Corruption Act. Then, secondly, if they were a benefit, whether they were so given to influence Zuma to use his political status to protect or further the accused's interests during the course of these payments and, thirdly, whether the intervention sought would involve the exercise of his duties as a Minister of the Provincial Government in KwaZulu-Natal or as Deputy President of the country and leader of Government business in Parliament.

If that is not proved, then the issue in terms of the first alternative charge to count 1 is whether it can be said that continuing to pay Zuma the amounts that were so paid over the period in question was a reckless way of carrying on the business of the accused companies and whether such recklessness would be to the prejudice of their creditors, especially when the Nkobi group was invariably short of cash and could not survive economically without bank assistance.

Then if, in turn, that is not proved, the issue is whether the loans admittedly made to accused No 1 by one or other of his companies were properly authorised by the directors or shareholders of the company that did so.

Turning next to count 2 in the main charge, the only remaining issue is whether accused No 1 was a party to the false journal entries and the plan to write off the three identified loan accounts against the upwardly revalued assets and the representation that the loans being so written off were costs incurred in the development of the Prodiba polyester driver's licence project. In regard to count 2, the three alternative counts also depend on the State establishing that accused No 1 was aware of what the auditors planned to do in effecting their recreated journal entries.

In count 3, and in respect of the main charge, the issues are, first, whether there was any such agreement sought from or made by Thomson to pay Zuma R500 000 a year until the anticipated funds from ADS became available, to use his influence to protect Thomson's interests in any public investigation into the alleged misconduct charged to Thomsons in the evaluation process of the arms acquisition package and thereafter in the quest for more Government business, or whether the subject of the discussion at these various meetings was the making of a donation. Secondly, related to that is the question of whether the service provider agreement entered into was a device or disguise to conceal the true nature of the payments then intended to flow to Zuma through one or other of the Nkobi companies.

The accused's case is that this was a genuine agreement of a kind typically used by Thomsons for providing information regarding development prospects and possibilities on which the Government of the country of the information provider might be intending to embark and which might afford an attractive venture for Thomson's business, but which was, unfortunately, terminated only after one payment because of Nkobi's disappointing performance in providing such information.

In so far as the money laundering alternative charges under the Prevention of Organized Crime Act are concerned, the issue is the nature of the payment admittedly received by the accused under this service provider agreement and paid over, either immediately or later, to Development Africa. There is no dispute that the R1 million of the R2 million donated by the former President Mandela to Jacob Zuma went immediately to the Jacob Zuma Education Trust, as was intended by the donor, nor that some of the balance of R900 000 eventually found its way to the welfare of traditional leaders in KwaZulu-Natal. It is the reason for the R250 000 that came from Mauritius via accused No 5 to Development Africa that constitutes the real issue. The State says that that was the first instalment of the bribe money for Zuma that went into repayment of Development Africa for the cost of Zuma's Nkandla residence. The accused's answer is that these payments were made to the Development Africa Trust as the donor intended, although no trust was ever formally registered at the time, once he realised its existence, because it was money due to that entity that he had inadvertently taken. On those lines then, was battle joined. At the start of his opening address, Mr Downer, for the State, likened his case to Virgil's classic epic, "The Aeniad", as being "A story of arms and a man". Apart from the essential narrative of the arms acquisition package and Shaik's indirect involvement in it, the only resemblance his case bore to the twelve books of this classical illustration was the epic proportions of the evidence he eventually led.

That evidence was given by many witnesses - over 40 in total - and not all of their contributions seemed to us to be discernably relevant. Indeed, at times and despite attempts to contain it, the breadth of matters canvassed in the evidence had the appearance of a commission of inquiry, not only into the arms acquisition programme but banking and bookkeeping practices and procedures, black economic empowerment policy, parliamentary procedures and much else beside.

Moreover, the oral evidence was reinforced by a small avalanche of documents, about 27 files of them, at least some of which were duplicated. But these were perceptibly more helpful, in that they came from many different sources and covered a long period of time and, placed in chronological sequence, often in the form of enquiry and response, their contents produced a clearer picture of contemporary events than fallible human memory could do. In many instances they effectively constituted the dots which, when joined by the logic of cause and effect, could found a compelling, if circumstantial, conclusion. As the Eastern sage puts it, "As today is the effect of yesterday, so also is it the cause of tomorrow". And, of course, separate isolated circumstances that, in combination, point strongly to a particular conclusion can often carry more weight than direct oral explanations.

Some of the evidence, both oral and documentary, was hearsay, admissible under one or other of the statutory relaxations of the rule against the admission of hearsay evidence. We have sought not to rely on any of this unless its admissibility was expressly accepted under section 220 of the Act or there is confirmation of it in the accused's own evidence. But the result has been over 6 000 pages of evidence, with many references to explanatory documents in which are the answers submitted by one side or the other to the issues raised by the charges and the pleas. Whether eventually relevant or not, it all gives rise to a spread of discussion and conclusion which unavoidably threatens the coherence of any answer and, notwithstanding the careful help of counsel, it is not impossible that some needles may have been overlooked in the haystack.

The events that gave rise to the present charges in the instant proceedings had their genesis, for the most part, in the change of Government brought about by the 1994 elections. That exercise resulted in an administration with a whole range of new philosophies and agendas designed to open the doors to new prospects in the political, economic and social fields to the many people who had previously been excluded from such participation. Mr Schabir Shaik was one of the expectant beneficiaries of these new opportunities. He had come to know Jacob Zuma in circumstances that are considered later, but it was through him, and in the early 'nineties after Zuma's return to this country, that Shaik came to assist the late Thomas Nkobi in his office as Treasurer-General of the ANC. The vision of opening the country's economy to greater black participation in the form of economic empowerment seems to have been a primary goal of Nkobi's, and he was impressed and attracted by the programme of the Malaysian Government to the same end. That programme, known as "Bumiputera", was said to have been an insistence on a minimum share in all Government-directed public companies and projects being allocated to indigenous Malayan ownership and benefit with the ruling political party participating directly or indirectly as a beneficiary. To see this policy at work and establish contact with his equivalents in the Malaysian political hierarchy, Nkobi made a number of visits to Malaysia during 1994 and took Shaik with him, making such visits as members of the ANC.

As this concept looked like developing into actual Government policy, Shaik was not slow to realise the potential openings and opportunities it offered to people like himself who qualified for acceptance as part of black economic empowerment, especially if, by being the necessary black economic empowerment component of a large company, whether foreign or domestic, in a bid for Government work, he could obtain a share of that work and its consequent rewards. To this end, he planned to set up a structure of companies in which, initially, he intended to include the ANC as a shareholder and, as early as June 1994, he incorporated accused Nos 9 and 10, Clegton (Pty) Limited and Floryn Investments (Pty) Limited. With this in mind, notes recovered from the Nkobi group offices by the National Prosecuting Authority reveal that he contemplated allocating shares in Floryn Investments (Pty) Ltd to both the ANC and Zuma. That was not carried out, most likely because of the decision subsequently taken by the Government that it would not follow the Malaysian model. But the idea of a Government-related interest in his well-being was evident then.

Some of the earlier such opportunities came from contacts that Shaik had made on his visits to Malaysia, particularly with a company called Renong Berhad, which had professed a positive intention to pursue construction projects in South Africa as occasion offered. At least two of these were the proposed Hilton Hotel and the redevelopment of the Point area in Durban to both of which Shaik was able to introduce Renong. But that was not all because there were also instances where South African private sector expertise was recognised as a suitable match for Malaysian company needs and Shaik was, likewise, able to provide the introductions that led to some successful commercial combinations of this nature. In late 1994 he also participated in the acquisition of property in Rivonia in Johannesburg as the proposed site of a head office in South Africa for the Renong company.

In carrying on these activities, he seems to have held himself out as acting for the ANC. Certainly, there is evidence that some of the Malaysians regarded him as such, and he himself used ANC letterheads to arrange some of the meetings between South African and Malaysian enterprises. For all these efforts he was financially rewarded, and quite handsomely in some instances. But these rewards he kept himself and used them to fund his early companies.

Running concurrently with these developments were two other attractive possibilities for someone of Schabir Shaik's new advantages. One was the prospect of profitable ventures in the defence sector of Government spending which he confidently expected to expand, and the other was the potential to exploit that expansion which was latent in the company then called African Defence Systems (Pty) Limited, or ADS.

The company that became ADS, and in which Shaik sought a participation, was originally incorporated under another name in 1967. After a succession of changes of shareholding and changes of name, it became a division of Allied Technologies Limited (Altech). This latter company was one of those enterprises into which enormous subsidies were poured by the previous Government, in a bid to develop the South African armaments industry to meet the arms embargo placed on this country by the United Nations. Allied Technologies Limited, and this particular division, met the challenge sufficiently well to be regarded eventually as in world class in this field and the only local electronics enterprise capable of producing the necessary combat munitions suite equipment for the proposed new warships.

Amongst those South Africans who knew of this expertise and capability was Mr Schabir Shaik. If he could persuade a suitable foreign company to become involved with him and his group in acquiring an interest in or control of ADS, the prospects of profitable business in the defence industry were enormous.

At first he had in mind to approach a Malaysian company to this end. In the facsimile letter he had received in October 1994 from Renong Berhad that was addressed to him in his capacity as "representative of the ANC", there was an indication that the Malaysian Minister of Defence was available to meet the Chairman of Advanced Technologies and Engineering (ATE), apparently an aeronautical service provider prominent in the local field of avionics and particularly in the design and control of missile guidance technology for use in aircraft of different kinds, and which was in contact with Shaik at the time.

But by mid-1995 he had decided that better prospects were offered by joining forces with Thomson-CSF (France), who had identified the same potential in the Government defence sector even earlier than Shaik himself.

It is clear from the evidence of Mr Pierre Moynot, who represented Thomsons in this country in the early 1990s, that if it was not already known then it was confidently expected well before the Government white paper on defence was put before Parliament in 1996, that an extensive upgrading of this country's defence capabilities would be needed sooner rather than later because a great deal of the equipment of the Defence Force was by then already obsolete or likely to become so soon. Nor was it only warships, surface and submarine, that would be needed, as Moynot had realised by 1993, but, as the white paper subsequently indicated, also aircraft, both fixed wing and helicopter, and a battle tank, none of which could be made in South Africa and would have to obtained from a foreign source.

Indeed it seems that, as early as 1995, the Government had selected a Spanish shipyard as being suitable for the building of its required corvettes, but that came to nothing because it was realised that there had first to be a white paper on the subject to be laid before Parliament and, while Thomsons itself did not build ships, its electronics industry could, and wanted to, supply the munitions suite of any such vessels as the new South African Government wished to acquire.

It was this capacity and interest that first brought Shaik into contact with Moynot and Thomson-CSF. At a meeting between Thomson, represented by Moynot, the company called ATE with whom Schabir Shaik was already in contact, the South African branch of Plessey and Nkobi, represented by Shaik, the topic of discussion was for these four participants to form a company that would compete against others for the combat systems of any such vessels. While Moynot could not recall the date of this meeting, it was clearly before early August 1995 because it was out of this meeting that Moynot and Shaik discussed the question of Nkobi joining Thomson, and which eventually led, after one or two attempts, to the meeting in Paris on 9 August 1995 between Schabir Shaik and Mr Gomez, where Thomsons accepted the principle of joint ventures in South African business with Shaik and Nkobi as its black economic empowerment partners.

There then followed the incorporation in South Africa of Thomson-CSF Holdings (Southern Africa) (Pty) Limited on 27 May 1996, in which Nkobi Investments was allocated 10% of the shares and with Schabir Shaik appointed as a director, and on 16 July 1996 the incorporation of Thomson-CSF (Pty) Limited, in which Nkobi Investments held 30% of the shares and Thomson-CSF Holdings 70% and of which company Schabir Shaik was a director from its inception. The importance of repeating these facts is that when it was first mooted in 1995 that Thomsons would acquire an interest in ADS and, as this development subsequently unfolded, the company that was to acquire such ADS shares as Altech would sell was Thomson-CSF (Pty) Limited, as the local operations company, and in which Shaik had nearly a one-third interest.

It also needs to be mentioned that in 1995, but before the meeting at which the Nkobi Group joined forces with Thomson, Shaik's plans for involving the ANC in his business enterprises received something of a rebuff. The causes of this are not entirely clear but it had perceptibly serious repercussions which bear on one of the issues in count 1. It may well have been resentment at the fact that Shaik was seen as holding himself out as acting on behalf of the ANC in his Malaysian contacts without authority, or with authority but keeping the rewards for those services to himself at a time when the ANC was facing a debt of R40 million to its bankers.

But in a letter of 9 May 1995 from the office of the new Treasurer-General of the ANC, Thomas Nkobi having died in October 1994, the new Treasurer-General, the Reverend M A Stofile, with whom Shaik seems to have been on goods terms personally, advised Shaik in his official capacity that the initiatives begun by Thomas Nkobi for the ANC and which he, Shaik, was to lead, would not be pursued or authorised; and although Shaik had assisted in the 1994 elections, he held no position in the ANC; and finally, that Stofile's own communications with him would stop forthwith.

Shaik's explanation of this letter was that it said no more than what had a little earlier in late 1994 or early 1995 been spelled out to him by Mr Thabo Mbeki, the then-Deputy President, to the effect that, while a change in Government economic policy to free market principles meant the ANC could no longer contemplate the party or Ministers being involved in Government-driven development projects, he (Schabir Shaik) was welcome to pursue such opportunities himself. That may have some support in the fact that during July and August of 1995 he was writing to the South African High Commissioner in Malaysia to thank her for her assistance and guidance during a trip to that country and requiring more meetings with the Malaysian Defence Ministry, and on 8 August 1995 he wrote to the Deputy Minister of Defence in Malaysia to thank him for having met them.

But the tone of the letter from Stofile says more than that. Its subject is "The ANC and your position", which suggests that something Shaik had been doing as a member of the ANC or on behalf of that organization had been discussed, and the rest of the letter spells out the decision reached in consequence of that discussion. Its message, apart from the writer's personal views, is certainly abrupt and even blunt and it does not readily admit of the party's blessing for Shaik to continue his plans on his own. That may have been the effect of what is said, but it is not what the letter says. His energetic pursuit of business opportunities thereafter, as indicated by the evidence, shows that he was not unduly fazed by the communication. Indeed, defiance of difficulties seems to be part of his character.

For it is also clear that his interest in Malaysian contacts did not end then and it was by no means confined to defence sector possibilities. Apart from the Point area development and the Hilton Hotel, eco-tourism in the Province of KwaZulu-Natal, toll roads, airports and holiday resorts along the North Coast were also avenues he was keen to explore and exploit as the black economic empowerment partner of any foreign or domestic firm he could interest in doing so. Even after his agreement with Thomson, there are indications, no doubt from Shaik's suggestion, that Thomsons would consider Malaysian participation in their ventures.

One of Thomson's early such ventures, of which Nkobi Holdings and, subsequently, Kobifin Limited (Pty) and Kobitech (Pty) Limited were a part was, while acting in concert with Face Technologies, which was a division of Denel, the securing of a contract driven by the Department of Transport for the production of the polyester driver's licence cards. This came to be known as the Prodiba project, which is discussed more fully in relation to count 2.

But the most important aspects of Thomson's activities in South Africa in this trial were, first, the part it played in the bidding process for the new Navy corvettes and its eventual accommodation of Nkobi's interests in the benefit of such bid; and, secondly, its alleged attempt with Shaik thereafter to buy Zuma's protection from any public investigation of the arms deal and his promotion of Thomson's interests in the future which is the subject of count 3.

However, to establish how that all came about and how the State says the influence of Zuma was invoked and applied, it is, unfortunately, necessary to set out a little of the history of the bidding process that came to be known as "The strategic defence package programme". This programme consisted of several exploratory and investigative stages, extending from March 1997 to November and December 1998, when the successful bids were announced and even beyond to late 1999 and early 2000 when, after prolonged negotiations, the final contracts were signed by Armscor.

Starting with the defined requirements of each service arm, information was sought from the governments of several countries whose industrial capacity included the ability to produce the required needs of the white paper. From the answers received, it seems international competition was keen and it may be of interest to note that, of the nine governments so asked, one did not reply but there were nevertheless responses from eleven countries. Three governments not so asked also submitted unsolicited information. In fact and in all, for the seven products to be acquired there were 37 would-be suppliers.

From these applicants a short list of possible suppliers was prepared, and that list was drawn up by November 1997. These selected offers were then subjected to an extensive process of examination, analysis, discussion and provisional conclusion by successive committees in the Ministry of Defence, each one in turn examining and assessing the other's conclusions. If, after such a process, both eventually agreed on a particular requirement and a particular possible supplier of that requirement, a further short list of these was prepared for subsequent consideration and that stage was reached by early 1998.

It was the suppliers on this list that were then sent a request for offers. That request was intended to elicit from each such possible supplier its best and final offer for the supply of those particular equipment types so offered. Such response would constitute an irrevocable offer on which the Government or its purchasing agency, Armscor, could thereafter negotiate and conclude a binding agreement. Once these offers were received, they were subjected to yet a further evaluation process. This time by a number of specialist committees, the members of which came not only from the service arms concerned with the particular equipment, but also representatives of the Ministry of Defence, the Ministries of Trade and Industry, of Finance, Public Enterprises and even some private sector bankers.

Each offer comprised three sections, a technical section, a section that set out the extent to which local industries could be utilised and a section on the financing of the project that was offered, so they required an equivalent spread of expertise to assess and evaluate their work. That process was done against predetermined value systems with marks being awarded as the details of each offer met or did not meet the specified requirements, and from each such exercise would emerge the offeror with the best score. Adding up the scores of the different evaluation teams would determine eventually, as the highest marks indicated, who would be the preferred bidder for each product type, and that process took place from May to July 1998.

Nor was that the end of the selection process. The preferred suppliers who emerged from this winnowing reduction were again closely examined by the two specialist committees in the Ministry of Defence. Their conclusions were then submitted to a special ad hoc sub-committee of the Cabinet, consisting of the Minister of Defence and his Deputy, the Minister of Public Enterprises, of Trade and Industry and of Finance, and presided over by the Deputy President. That milestone was reached in August 1998. This Cabinet sub-committee then reported its conclusions and recommendations to the full Cabinet, which made the final decision on the preferred bidders, which decision was announced on 18 November 1999.

But central to this whole exercise, managing and driving it and privy to every bid, reaction, debate and response was Mr Chippy Shaik, the brother of accused No 1, who held an important office in the Ministry of Defence. And another person whose presence and activities during this whole process were noted by the French observer was Mr Jacob Zuma, although officially he had nothing to do with the selection process and was not then a member of the National Government. The State is quite entitled to ask what business he had to be there.

Nor was even that the end so far as the corvette bid and Thomson's interest in it was concerned. When the German Frigate Consortium, ("GFC") was announced as the preferred bidder for the corvettes, it was only to provide the hull and propulsion machinery. The Government, speaking for the Navy, had wanted to retain the capacity of deciding who should supply the sort of combat suite that was required. So when bids for the corvettes were submitted they excluded that part of the vessel except for the anticipated price that the munitions suite would cost. For that reason, after the announcement of the GFC as the preferred bidder for the corvettes, a further process was commenced to decide on the required contents of the munitions suite or the "black box", as Moynot called it, at the most competitive price.

In this context, although Thomson-CSF (France) had ADS to offer, since by then it had acquired control of that company, and ADS, being South African and already a supplier of some of the Navy's requirements, would have been a preferred choice for this work, the first presentation by Thomson-CSF of what it offered to provide was not accepted because the price was too high. The GFC, which had in its bid indicated an intention to use ADS as a leading part of the combat suite installation, was then asked to obtain prices from other possible suppliers to compare these with those of Thomson. This was done and the result was that if the Navy was to accept Thomson's offer, it required a reduction in price.

Some anxious exchanges then took place that were finally resolved, according to Moynot, by the Government being prepared to underwrite the risk of any defective performance by any of the South African sub-contractors that it wanted to be used in this contract. If that were done, Thomsons was able to reduce its price by the amount of the risk provision it had factored into its original cost projections to cover this potential source of liability. Thus the munitions suite contract was settled on 24 November 1998, when it was announced that Thomson-CSF would supply the combat suites for the corvettes, although the formal contracts were only signed about a year later.

For anyone with an interest in the outcome, that was a very welcome achievement. By then, as is discussed later, Nkobi had been restored to the ranks of ADS beneficiaries, and in the Chairman's report of the Nkobi group of companies for the financial year ending 28 February 1999 there is reference to the fact that the contract for systems integration of the combat suites for the corvettes had been awarded to ADS in the sum of R450 million.

But that reward for all Shaik's hard work and planning had very nearly been derailed for, running concurrently with the exercise of the bidding process, were two other dramas that have a bearing on the dispute that is count 1. The first was this. The evidence shows that, taking place in tandem with this prolonged process of solicitation, response and repeated scrutiny to semi-final and final selections, was a constant swirling undercurrent of lobbying and informal meetings between interested applicants and potential selectors, carried on through the medium of self-proclaimed confidantes of the persons perceived to be the ultimate decision-makers. Mr Moynot, with charming Gallic candour, said that it was standard practice in the armaments industry to cultivate the services of such people, although the rumours or information they provided always needed careful assessment for their reliability. Moreover, he said, notwithstanding the existence of apparently impartial institutions like tender boards, the ultimate choice in competitions of this sort was always made at a political level.

In the instant case, of course, the final choice was always going to be made at a political level because of the uniqueness of the event and the cost to which the country would be committed. But the need to meet the relevant political figures for a chance to impress on them the wisdom of selecting one's own offerings, and a need to cultivate the individuals who claimed to facilitate such access, still remained.

The second such drama was the acquisition of ADS by Thomson-CSF (France), and the two such developments meet in the circumstances of Jacob Zuma's intervention on behalf of Schabir Shaik that is admitted by the accused.

Although the thought of acquiring an interest in ADS had been in contemplation by Shaik and Moynot since 1995, it was not until a joint meeting of shareholders and directors of both Thomson-CSF Holdings and Thomson-CSF (Pty) Limited on 25 August 1997 that the possibility of such an investment was formally resolved. Thereafter, on 22 September 1997 Moynot wrote a letter to Shaik, announcing that agreement in principle had been reached with Altech for the disposal of 50% of Altech's ADS business to Thomson-CSF (Pty) Limited at a cost of R50 million. This was to be done by an increase in, and a restructuring of, the share capital in ADS and the subsequent issue of shares to both future owners to reflect this agreement. But when this arrangement was brought to fruition it emerged that the 50% plus one share of the increased share capital of ADS had been issued to Thomson-CSF (France) and not to Thomson-CSF (Pty) Limited. Neither Shaik nor Nkobi had any right or interest in the parent Thomsons company and were thus excluded from the anticipated rewards that a successful contract for ADS would bring.

This change of strategy on the part of Thomsons was explained thus by Mr Moynot, albeit on a basis of hearsay evidence. At some stage between November 1997, when steps had been put in train for Thomson-CSF (Pty) Limited to acquire the ADS shares and the bidding process was under way, somebody, identified as one Youssuf Surtee, one of the self-appointed facilitators of contact by interested bidders with high-level political figures, and who acted as such during the bidding process, had put it about and actually told Thomsons in Paris that both the then-President and Deputy President did not like Shaik, and that if Thomsons persisted in its embrace of Shaik as its black economic empowerment partner in the arms acquisition programme, then its chances of success for any contract in the process were poor. In fact, Moynot was led to believe that Surtee's motive in doing this was to offer himself as a black economic empowerment partner to Thomson, instead of Shaik. That may or may not be true, but that is how Moynot understood the matter.

Although this was all second- or even third-hand reports, it can be accepted that something of the sort happened because Schabir Shaik himself confirmed it, although he did so on the basis that it was derogatory comments ascribed to Mr Mbeki only that were reported to him. These were to the effect that his claim to be a black economic empowerment participant was unacceptable because he was Indian and not black indigenous South African, and that this was, in fact, being repeated by Perrier, the Thomson parent head of African operations.

The dismay caused by this news was exacerbated by recollection of an earlier response by President Mandela, also reported to Shaik at the time it occurred, that a reference by Perrier in the course of a speech given at a luncheon for the President, to the effect that Thomson's were keen to re-establish themselves in South Africa and fully embraced the principle of black economic empowerment, also let fall a reference to the fact that the Nkobi group was its selected partner for this purpose. This particular comment was said to have been received with less than enthusiasm by the then-President, a reaction which apparently caused Perrier some embarrassment. That also may or may not have happened in fact, but that is what Shaik had in mind that increased his concern.

But he said he asked Zuma, or it may have been Zuma's suggestion that Zuma meet Perrier and explain that this criticism of him as an unsuitable black economic empowerment partner was unjustified and incorrect. That was done by letter dated 17 March 1998, from Shaik to Perrier, which was copied to Mr Mbeki as the then-President of the ANC, and which stated that it was Zuma who wanted a meeting with Perrier to discuss this looming threat to his plans for Nkobi's fortunes. That letter received no response, so a further letter on 13 May 1998, stimulated by a reminder from Zuma, was likewise addressed to Mr Perrier. That too received no reply. But as it was anticipated that Perrier would be visiting South Africa later that year, tentative arrangements were put in train for Zuma to meet him then. Attempts by the local French representatives may have been sharpened to do so by the threat made by Shaik at a meeting of shareholders of Thomson (Pty) Limited and Thomson Holdings on 9 June 1998, and generated by his understandable resentment and dismay at this development, that he might take legal action to interdict the transfer of the prescribed shares in ADS to the parent Thomson-CSF company on the strength of his original shareholders agreement with that concern.

These efforts to arrange a meeting in South Africa also came to nothing because Perrier fell ill, so Shaik took the opportunity of arranging for Zuma to meet Perrier in London at the beginning of July at the end of an official visit by Zuma to the United Kingdom in his capacity as Minister of Tourism in KwaZulu-Natal. That meeting took place. The only participant in that encounter who gave evidence was Mr Shaik himself, and his description of what took place is that Zuma explained the real basis on which the Government and the ANC saw black economic empowerment credentials, namely that this concept was not limited to black indigenous South Africans only but included coloured and Indian nationals as well. He said that Perrier was satisfied with this explanation and undertook that the ADS shares would be repatriated to the South African subsidiary, explaining his caution to Shaik on the basis that, as the South African Government was Thomson's only customer, the parent company had to be careful that it selected an economic empowerment partner that was acceptable to that customer.

To keep the issues in view, however, it is necessary to say at this point that this account of what happened is not consistent with Moynot's evidence which was called on behalf of the accused, and which made it clear that right from the start of Thomson's return to the South African business scene it had read the Government's requirement in respect of black economic empowerment for Government contracts and proceeded on the basis that the only class of person excluded from the ambit of this requirement was white males. So it does not sound correct to venture the explanation that all Zuma had to do was explain to Perrier that black economic empowerment did not also include coloured and Indian nationals. Perrier would have already have known that.

But whatever was discussed and accepted at this meeting, the fact is that thereafter the French parent directors, together with Moynot, worked out a strategy whereby the shares in ADS acquired by the Thomson-CSF parent could be used to the benefit of the Nkobi group. This strategy was in place and was disclosed at a meeting on 18 November 1998 at the Nkobi offices, attended by Mr Perrier with the two local directors of the South African subsidiaries, Moynot and Thétard. Mr Perrier was on a visit to this country to attend the biennial Defence Force exhibition of that year. But a request had been earlier made by local French officials to Shaik on 9 November 1998 to arrange for him to meet Zuma and Shaik during this visit.

Notes of the meeting on 18 November 1998 were kept by Mr Anand Moodley, then the Nkobi legal adviser. These and the subsequent minutes prepared from them, and recovered from the Nkobi offices, show that the meeting is described only as "Nkobi with Thomson's". It lists the persons present as including "JZ", which was Zuma, and the burden of the meeting was the means whereby Thomson-CSF (France) would sell 20% of its shareholdings in ADS to Nkobi Investments, which was the equivalent of a 10% interest in ADS, doing so by restructuring the shareholding of Thomson-CSF (Pty) Limited. The price of such acquisition and the means whereby Nkobi could pay for this interest were also tabled, as also the fact that Thomson-CSF (Pty) Limited would acquire the remaining 50% shareholding in ADS from Altech at some time in the future. At the end of all that, the French parent of Thomson's would own 50% of ADS shares and Thomson (Pty) Limited the remaining 50%.

Shaik's evidence disputed any suggestion that the notes taken by Moodley may indicate that Zuma attended the meeting as a participant. The notes were wrong to say that. What had happened, he said, was that to accommodate Perrier's request to meet Zuma, which was only to renew that acquaintance, having earlier discovered a common interest in a socialist form of government, Zuma had merely called in at Perrier's request, his Ministerial office being close by. After some uncertainty, he said that Zuma came when the meeting was over, was introduced to those he had not already met, shared some refreshment with the people present and then departed.

Moynot's description of events at this meeting was substantially the same, but with this slight but significant difference. Zuma did only arrive when the business of the meeting was over and tea or coffee was being served and he did partake of this, that was correct. But while doing so, the decision that had been reached about the inclusion of Nkobi in the anticipated ADS dividend stream was explained to him, at the end of which he pronounced himself happy with the result.

Moreover, the letter from Thomson-CSF of 9 November was that a meeting be arranged for Perrier to meet both Zuma and Shaik. It would not have been necessary to include Shaik in the desired encounter, if all Perrier wanted to do was renew his acquaintance with Zuma. It is more probable that he wanted to meet those same two individuals to explain the proposal to repatriate at least part of the ADS interest to South Africa in the shape of Thomson-CSF (Pty) Limited. That is why an explanation of this was also made to Zuma when he arrived at the meeting. It was to explain the way by which Perrier intended to achieve what he undertook at the London meeting of 2 July 1998. Apart from that, it is also more probable that if Perrier only wanted to meet Zuma to renew their acquaintanceship, it is Perrier, who knew of Zuma's political status, who would have gone to meet Zuma, not the other way round.

And, of course, the strategy planned by Thomson-CSF trod a careful line between accommodating Shaik's interest in the anticipated ADS prosperity and not offending the Government by having Nkobi as the black economic empowerment partner in ADS which was to be the actual member of the consortium that offered to design and supply the munitions suite.

The Government's requirement was met by Thomsons disposing of a 20% interest in ADS to FBS (Pty) Limited, an acceptable black economic empowerment partner to the Government, while Shaik's interest was met by the parent company disposing of, first a portion of, subsequently all, its shares in ADS to Thomson-CSF (Pty) Limited. On that basis then, with FPS accepting 20% instead of 25% plus 1 of the ADS shares which it demanded initially, the question of a suitable black economic empowerment partner for ADS and Shaik's participation in its future prosperity was settled. Moreover, the fact that the problem was solved on this basis also makes it unlikely that the reason for Zuma's appointment with Perrier in London on 2 July 1998 was simply to persuade him that the stories he heard that Shaik was not acceptable to the ANC leadership because he was not an indigenous black South African, had that been the case, and Perrier was satisfied with that, as Shaik claimed, the difficulty could have been overcome by simply including Nkobi or Thomson-CSF (Pty) Limited as the black economic empowerment partner for ADS, and not FPS (Pty) Limited. The eventual outcome and Moynot's evidence about Thomson-CSF's concern not to antagonise the South African Government, its only customer in this country, suggests that Zuma's visit was about more than that.

In the event, however, and shortly thereafter, on 24 November 1998, Thomson-CSF, in the form of ADS, was declared the successful bidder for the munitions suite of the corvettes.

That is one of Zuma's interventions to protect or assist or further the interests of Nkobi's business enterprises. This was done, the accused said, as an "act of friendship", and nothing to do with the R343 724 odd that up to then had been paid to or on behalf of Zuma since early 1997. That issue is addressed later, but there were three other instances of this sort of intervention put forward by the State in support of the case on count 1.

The first of these is the alleged intervention by Zuma on Shaik's behalf in the redevelopment of the Point area of Durban that had attracted the interest of Renong Berhad. The evidence of this is contained in the first of the two affidavits of Mr David Wilson, the head of Renong's foreign operations arm, which were admitted in evidence by virtue of section 222 of the Criminal Procedure Act, as read with sections 34 and 35 of the Civil Proceedings Evidence Act. In this affidavit Wilson describes his experiences in arranging a presentation of Renong's bid for the Point redevelopment contract, which was to be awarded by a body called The Point Waterfront Company (Pty) Limited, headed by one Mzi Khumalo.

This presentation included Renong's accommodation of the necessary black economic empowerment component which Wilson had selected from persons Khumalo said had been approved by the Government, but which did not include Nkobi. This component was to be housed in 49% of the shares of a shelf company at first called Secprop 60 (Pty) Limited, but which later changed its name to Vulindlela (Pty) Limited.

It is common cause that Schabir Shaik was also anxious to secure a place in the work offered by this project and he had assembled a consortium of other such enterprises, including well-known leisure centre developer, to present the bid for such work. The affidavit shows, which is also common cause, that on the day before presentation of the competing bids to the Waterfront Company, Shaik invited Wilson to discuss the question of joining forces on the project. Wilson declined the invitation and made Renong's presentation to the selection committee on the next day in competition with others, including Nkobi; but Renong was apparently accepted and thereafter was the only bidder in the field.

That was all done by October or November 1995, and that is all common cause. But delays occurred in the commencement of the work and by mid-1996 nothing had been done about embarking on the project. Wilson reported to his chairman in Malaysia that this delay was due to Shaik's continued attempts to gain acceptance in the project. Whether that was well-founded or not does not matter. The fact is that that is what Wilson reported, with the result that this chairman, one Halim Saad, thought Renong should try and obtain political confirmation that Wilson's choice of black economic empowerment partners was politically acceptable.

But at some time in early June 1996 Shaik himself visited Saad in Malaysia. Something of the purpose of this visit appears from his letter of 10 June 1996 to Saad, and which is Exhibit QQ10, and written after his return to Durban. This shows, inter alia, that Shaik had not lost interest in the Point development project, despite not being selected as a bidder, but was still seeking a basis for participation and, secondly, it shows that some arrangement had been made in terms of which Saad was to write a letter to Zuma, after which Shaik trusted that, "... given your written confirmation and our combined commitment hereof, (sic) I would be in a position thereafter to influence and accelerate the much-awaited Point development."

That suggests at least a proposal that Saad write to Zuma, opening the door to Nkobi participation, but on the basis that such accommodation would be a Government decision and not something for which Renong could be blamed by the already selected BEE partners. Thereafter Shaik could use his influence to activate the stationary condition of the project.

Mr Saad did, in fact, write a letter to Jacob Zuma, as Minister of Economic Affairs and Tourism in KwaZulu-Natal, on 8 June 1996, which is Exhibit QQ25, and which is almost certainly the letter that Shaik was urging in Exhibit QQ10, and in it, after setting out what Shaik wanted of him on this visit, Saad sought Zuma's advice as to who Renong should accept as its BEE partner. To this letter Zuma replied by the letter which is QQ11. Although that letter is dated 31 October 1996, it was obviously written before that date because the penultimate paragraph on the first page asks Saad or a senior and trusted member of his company to see Zuma about this difficulty before 2 October. That senior official was Wilson, who returned to South Africa in January 1997, having been advised of Zuma's letter of 31 October, and armed with instructions to arrange a meeting with Zuma. He preceded his return with a note to Shaik, asking for a meeting with Shaik to discuss the Point development and other matters on 3, 4 or 5 February 1997.

Wilson says that the desired meeting with Zuma took place, arranged by Shaik, and that it took place in Shaik's apartment. He initially said that this occurred during the last part of 1996, but in his second affidavit, after he discovered further correspondence, particularly Exhibit QQ 27, he acknowledged that this was a mistake and the meeting took place in January 1997. In the course of this encounter, according to Wilson, Zuma said he was not happy with the persons nominated to represent the empowerment interest in the Point development and suggested that Shaik be included, stressing repeatedly that Shaik would be a good partner for the work envisaged in the project. Wilson said that while Renong had no wish to be involved in a dispute as to the selection of empowerment partners, as that w