The New National Party has broken its silence over the allegations of bribery, corruption and inappropriate behaviour surrounding Deputy President Jacob Zuma, second-in-charge of the party's new bed-fellow, the African National Congress.

NNP MP Boy Geldenhuys said Zuma's relationship with his financial advisor, Schabir Shaik, was creating "unnecessary suspicion".

Zuma has insisted that his relationship with Shaik - charged with the possession of classified cabinet memoranda relating to the arms deal - is unshakeable.

Shaik has also been taken to court by the elite Scorpions unit in a bid to force him to co-operate with investigations into whether Zuma allegedly attempted to obtain a bribe from a company which won a bid for a contract in the multi-billion rand arms deal.

The Democratic Alliance pointed out that Zuma's response to reports that Shaik had travelled to a New Partnership for Africa's Development conference in Senegal in April aboard a state plane with Zuma was inconsistent.

In an exclusive interview with Independent Newspapers on Monday, Zuma said Shaik had been invited to the conference and he (Zuma) invited Shaik to travel to Senegal with him because he had heard that Shaik was having problems with connecting flights.

"There is nothing strange about that," said Zuma.

Shaik's lawyer told a Sunday newspaper that he had been invited by the Nepad secretariat. But the Nepad secretariat has denied that it invited him.

With acknowledgements to Jeremy Michaels and Daily News.