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Court hears of new evidence
06/09/2006 13:10 - (SA)
Pietermaritzburg - Defence attorneys in the corruption trial of former deputy president Jacob Zuma and a French arms company argued on Wednesday that new evidence prosecutors want to use to amend their indictment was seized unlawfully.
Prosecutors say they need more time to amend the indictment, but the defence is resisting a delay. Defence attorney Kemp J Kemp said the prosecution has engineered delays in the case that infringe on the rights of the accused and should be ordered to go to trial now with the current indictment and to bring new charges later if the challenged evidence is ruled admissible.
"They are not coming to this court with clean hands. They cannot get an adjournment to change the indictment based on material they got unlawfully," argued Kemp.
The trial has deepened rifts within the country's ruling alliance, fuelling a succession crisis in an African economic and diplomatic powerhouse. President Thabo Mbeki fired Zuma when it became clear he would have to stand trial on the corruption charges. Zuma, a widely popular populist, recently has stepped up his campaign to succeed Mbeki when his term expires in 2009.
No time to prepare
Zuma and Thint Holdings have pleaded innocent to charges that Zuma accepted at least R1.2m in bribes. The prosecution alleges Zuma was aware of efforts by his financial adviser Schabir Shaik to secure him yearly payments of R500 000 from Thint to deflect corruption investigations.
The investigations centred on a R52.7bn deal to buy ships, submarines, helicopters, jets and other arms in 1999. Shaik, a close friend of Zuma, was convicted on corruption charges last year and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Prosecutors, who have suggested postponing the trial until next year, told the judge on Tuesday that the new indictment would be ready by October 15. However, they said an appeal of Shaik's conviction scheduled to be heard September 25 will rule on several points of law that could have a major impact on Zuma's trial.
Political ploy
The State also argued that it had not had time to prepare its case because of delaying tactics by the defence that it said included challenges to police searches, including one of the offices of Zuma defence attorneys.
The former deputy president has alleged the corruption charges were trumped up by factions he declines to identify within the governing African National Congress to destroy him politically.
The leftist youth wing of the ANC and the allied Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party support Zuma.
Zuma's case, originally scheduled for July, was delayed by prosecutors' request for more time to study documents submitted by the defence. Tuesday morning, they carried mounds of paperwork into the courthouse - including evidence gathered from 10 countries.
Prosecutors had launched a probe into Zuma's role when the arms scandal first surfaced, and announced in August 2003 that while there was evidence against him, the case was not winnable. They revisited the case after Shaik's conviction.
- AP
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