Former Transport Minister Mac Maharaj's future at FirstRand hinges partly on a family holiday to Disneyland that was paid for by Durban businessman Schabir Shaik.

Maharaj is expected to respond by Wednesday to the findings of an audit by Deloitte & Touche of payments and gifts, including the trip that he and his wife got from Shaik and his company, Nkobi Holdings.

The audit report was submitted this week to the board of FirstRand, of which Maharaj is a director. A decision on Maharaj's future at FirstRand will be made only once he has responded to the findings.

He is on leave pending the outcome of the inquiry.

But today the Sunday Times can reveal that the Scorpions Investigating Unit issued a subpoena compelling a major international company to explain why it was billed for the Maharajs' holiday to Orlando, Florida, in the US.

Halliburton, a company with controversial ties to US Vice-President Dick Cheney, was subpoenaed by the Scorpions after it emerged that its construction and oil subsidiary, Brown & Root, had arranged the Disneyland trip.

The Sunday Times this week tracked down a former Brown & Root employee who was responsible for arranging the trip.

Mike Elsip, who was managing director of Brown & Root at the time, said although the company had been billed for the trip, it had recovered the money from Nkobi Holdings or Shaik himself.

Elsip said his company was at the time engaged in "exploratory talks" with Nkobi Holdings, which was keen to establish a joint venture with Brown & Root.

Yesterday Shaik, speaking from Mauritius, confirmed that he had asked Brown & Root to handle the arrangements for the Maharaj family's stay, including hotel accommodation and a limousine, for the duration of their trip to Orlando in July 1996.

Shaik said he had been forced to foot the bill after receiving an invoice from Brown & Root months later.

"Mac [Maharaj] told me he had settled the bill directly at the hotel, so it was not clear why the hotel still invoiced Brown & Root. It was awkward.

"What was I supposed to do? I had a potential business partner on one side and a minister on the other so, yes, I just paid it," Shaik said.

As he did not wish to spoil his relationship with Maharaj or with Brown & Root, he settled the full amount by electronic transfer and a subsequent cheque.

On Friday, Halliburton's former financial director, Dave Gerrard, confirmed that the company had submitted an affidavit to the Scorpions, but said he was not in a position to divulge details of the 11-page document.

Gerrard said the company was aware that its name had been linked to the investigation, and wished to state categorically that it had at all times conducted its affairs in South Africa in full compliance with the law.

The Sunday Times has established that Shaik described the Disneyland trip for Maharaj, then minister of transport, as "strategically important" to Brown & Root and Nkobi Holdings.

He said one of Nkobi's subsidiaries, Procon Africa, had at the time been in talks with Brown & Root about projects in various parts of Africa, including South Africa's airport developments.

Maharaj yesterday refused to comment on the matter, saying he was co-operating with investigators and did not intend to comment until the case against him was concluded.

Elsip said he had met Maharaj "once", at a lunch arranged by Shaik, and that the nature of his engagement with Shaik or Nkobi Holdings centred on a proposed airport development at La Mercy in KwaZulu-Natal and development of a new terminal building at Johannesburg International Airport.

Elsip said his company was not interested in the venture proposed by Shaik and never pursued it.

Shaik, who had to submit to questioning this week, is also at the centre of the Scorpions' investigation of Deputy President Jacob Zuma.

He is personal financial adviser to Zuma, who is alleged to have tried to solicit R500 000 from Thomson-CSF/Thales, a company that benefited from South Africa's multibillion-rand arms deal.

With acknowledgements to Jessica Bezuidenhout, Andre Jurgens, Mzilikazi Wa Afrka and the Sunday Times.