'Zuma loan not in MP register'
2005-02-17 21:45
Durban - An alleged R2m revolving-loan agreement between Schabir Shaik and deputy president Jacob Zuma was not lodged in parliament's register of members' assets, Durban High Court heard on Thursday.
According to Shaik, who faces charges of fraud and corruption, the agreement came into effect on May 16 1999, and was lodged in the confidential record of members' assets.
However, senior special investigator Johan du Plooy told the court on Thursday that, apart from the copy produced by the defence, there was no other evidence of the agreement.
It had been claimed the agreement was for a period of five years and in which interest was calculated at prime plus 2%.
He said they had written to the speaker of the national assembly, Baleka Mbete, in November 2004, as well as Justice Minister Brigitte Mabandla, asking for access to the register.
Mbete, who was on extended sick leave at the time, responded on January 24.
Approached office of the presidency
She said a copy of the agreement was "not contained in the confidential register of members' interests save that a copy of the said loan agreement was disclosed to the joint committee on ethics on a confidential basis by the deputy president".
On February 3, prosecutor Billy Downer wrote to the Rev Frank Chikane, director-general in the presidency, asking for his help in determining if the loan agreement had been lodged in the register that was administered by the secretary to the cabinet in terms of the members' code.
Chikane replied on February 16, saying the agreement had never been lodged with the executive secretary of the cabinet.
Chikane wrote that the Executive Ethics Act "only requires members to declare their liabilities. There is no requirement for members to lodge loan agreements".
Du Plooy told the court their investigations into the loan agreement continued.
He said if Zuma did show the agreement to anyone, it had not been earlier than 2003.
Du Plooy's testimony came after Judge Hilary Squires handed down judgment on several documents handed in as evidence by the State and deemed inadmissible by the defence.
Downer said the three crucial sets of documents were an encrypted fax, two affidavits by Malaysian-based British businessman David Wilson, and a two-page diary entry by Alain Thetard, the former South African-based boss of French arms company Thomson CSF.
'Curiously opaque language'
Judge Squires ruled all of these documents as admissible.
He said the encrypted fax was a statement that was executive in nature and "seems arguably to be the final step in the accomplishment of an agreement to pay Zuma the money indicated in exchange for his influence".
He also said it was "strange, for example, that all the meetings between Thetard and Shaik were arranged in curiously opaque language to discuss an 'issue' that was never described in writing."
Shaik's legal team start their defence on Monday.
- SAPA