Thales' challenge to the National Prosecuting Authority's decision to charge it with racketeering alongside Jacob Zuma was seen as a "dress rehearsal" for the State's long-awaited corruption case against the former president and the French arms company.
The Kwazulu-Natal High Cour'’s emphatic dismissal of Thales' case, therefore, must be giving both it and Zuma a great deal to worry about.
Acting Judge Alsa Bezuidenhout, writing on behalf of the full bench, found that "sufficient information" had been placed before former prosecutions bosses Mokotedi Mpshe and Shaun Abrahams "on which they could rationally conclude that there was reasonable and probable cause to believe that Thales South Africa had, directly or indirectly or with common purpose, participated in the enterprise run by [Zuma's former financial advisor Schabir] Shaik, through a pattern of racketeering activity".
