Mac Maharaj declined yesterday to comment on the claim by his wife, Zarina, that the Scorpions had offered him immunity from prosecution in return for helping them with the prosecution of Deputy President Jacob Zuma.

The former transport minister and now nonexecutive director of FirstRand bank said yesterday he and his family were finalising a decision on his future at FirstRand.

The banking group commissioned its own investigation into newspaper claims that Maharaj accepted a R500 000 payoff from Durban businessman Schabir Shaik.

Shaik was part of a consortium that won a lucrative toll-road contract during Maharaj's tenure as transport minister.

"We are finalising our views today as a family, discussing what the right thing is to do, bearing in mind our interests, the interests of the bank and the interests of shareholders," Maharaj said. "Whatever I decide, we need to take this through the processes of FirstRand."

Weekend newspaper reports quoted Zarina Maharaj as saying a representative of national director of public prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka had called Maharaj at the African National Congress's (ANC's) headquarters with the offer in exchange for assistance in building a case against Zuma. She also said her husband would resign his position at FirstRand this week because of the embarrassment the adverse publicity is causing

Maharaj declined to be drawn on his wife's reported comments yesterday, saying only they were "based on what she was privy to".

Ngcuka is out of the country and his office had no comment on the reports.

Maharaj has been on a leave of absence from FirstRand since February, but was still entitled to be paid more than R400 000 during the five months to date as part of the R1m salary he earns as a nonexecutive director.

The internal investigation mandated by FirstRand has been completed, and the bank is expected to make an announcement on Maharaj's future with it this week.

The claims about Ngcuka's reported offer to Maharaj are controversial, and may feed into allegations made at senior levels of the ANC that Ngcuka's office is targeting Zuma in the investigation.

Ngcuka's office also faces criticism for its alleged role in leaking the 35 questions to Zuma to the media, an allegation that Ngcuka's office has denied.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Alliance said that even if Maharaj resigned from FirstRand, it was important that he remained part of the investigation into the arms deal. The party urged him to co-operate with the probe. Spokesman Hendrik Schmidt said: "It is in the public's interest that all the facts and allegations are properly ventilated and investigated.

"The public has a right to know whether there were any instances of corruption during his term of office, especially in respect of tenders relating to the N3 toll road or the issuing of new drivers' licences."

With acknowledgements to Wyndham Hartley, Rob Rose and the Business Day.