Cape Town - Deputy president Jacob Zuma lived beyond his means with "extravagant expenditures" sometimes amounting to R37 000 a month. He wrote out cheques which bounced and had a "corrupt relationship" with his financial advisor Schabir Shaikh.

These allegations are contained in the charge sheet against Shaikh handed in at Durban regional court on Monday. Shaikh and about 10 companies in which he has interests, face charges of corruption, fraud, theft and money laundering.

The deputy president's names runs like a golden thread through the 45-page charge sheet, handed in after the Scorpions announced he would not be prosecuted for corruption although there was prima facie evidence against him.

The charge sheet states Zuma received more than R1.1m from Shaikh or companies he had interests in from October 1, 1995 to September 30, 2002. In one case a loan granted to Zuma by Nkobi, one of Shaikh's companies, was written off.

"At no point could Zuma afford to repay the 'loan'," the charge sheet states.

"Shaikh knew this because he was aquainted with Zuma's financial affairs. Zuma was in a financial predicament."

There are a number of allegations concerning Zuma's financial affairs:

In October 1997 Standard Bank sued the close corporation Michigan Investment CC, through which Zuma had taken out a home loan of R443 618.52, for unpaid instalments. Zuma settled the outstanding amount in February 1998;

On May 14, 1998 his overdrawn Nedbank account stood at R66 500;

His outstanding debt at Wesbank for a vehicle purchase was R291 145.95;

At that stage he also owed SA Permanent Bank R75 000;

In September 1998 his personal Standard Bank account was R105 717 in the red;

In October 1998 AQ Holdings, a company Zuma owed R86 500, threatened him with sequestration. Shaikh settled the amount through Nkobi; and

Zuma overspent R37 000 a month in 1999 and R29 000 in 2000.

According to the charge sheets the payments Shaikh and his company made to Zuma made "no business sense", and he received benefits to which he was not rightfully entitled.

"To summarise, in general there was a corrupt relationship between Zuma and Accused 1 (Shaikh) and/or the accused's company. The accused paid Zuma to advance their private business interests in return for funding Zuma's extravagant expenditure".

The charge sheet also contains details of an agreement which would allegedly involve Zuma receiving about R1m in bribes in return for protecting an arms company from prosecution and directly advancing the company's interests.

The charge sheet also accuses Zuma of writing a cheque for the development of his "traditional residential village" at Nkandla in KwaZulu-Natal. But Zuma did not have sufficient funds in his account and the cheque bounced. Part of the sum was apparently settled by Shaikh's company Nkobi.

With acknowledgements to Willem Jordaan  and Die Burger.