Chippy Shaik also stung
2005-10-19 08:48
Johannesburg - The Scorpions have seized a file with Chippy Shaik's notes and documents about South Africa's arms purchases in their investigation into corruption charges against former deputy president Jacob Zuma.
This emerged from an application Schabir Shaik lodged with Durban High Court, requesting that a series of raids by the Scorpions on his house, luxury penthouse and two of his companies should be declared invalid.
Shaik's court application is the third lawsuit pending about the Scorpions' series of raids on August 18 in the Zuma investigation.
Prosecution began in June against Zuma after Shaik, his former financial adviser, was found guilty among other things of mediating an agreement that Zuma would protect a French defence company in the investigation into alleged irregularities in South Africa's arms purchases.
One of Shaik's brothers, Chippy, was the government's head of arms purchases when the contract for the arms package was concluded.
Documents sealed to protect client-attorney privilege
The file the Scorpions seized contains Chippy Shaik's notes about the arms procurement programme that he compiled for the Shaik trial, said Schabir Shaik's attorney Reeves Parsee.
Chippy Shaik was on the defence's list of witnesses in the trial. The Scorpions came across the file when they searched a storeroom in Durban that Shaik's legal team used in preparing for and during Shaik's trial - including notes on research and consultations, said Parsee.
The Scorpions seized this file and other documents about the Shaik court case but Parsee said they have been sealed to protect client-attorney privilege and given for safe-keeping to the registrar of Durban High Court.
Parsee said members of the Scorpions also went through documents concerning the Shaik trial that were in the businessman's house in Morningside.
Schabir Shaik argues in the court application among other things that the Scorpions kept silent in their application to Transvaal Chief Justice Bernard Ngoepe for search warrants about the possibility that there might be privileged documents on the premises, with the result that no precautions were taken.
National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Makhosini Nkosi said the NPA and Scorpions intend to oppose the application.