Absa Private Bank was so eager to have Deputy President Jacob Zuma as a client in 2001 that it completely ignored his abysmal financial position in its efforts to get him on board, the Durban High Court heard yesterday.

Nallie Bosman, who was Absa group CEO at the time, even contacted Zuma to ask him to become a client, testified John Dwyer, former manager of Absa Private Bank's Durban office.

The bank was not as keen to have Zuma's financial adviser, Schabir Shaik, as a client, but realised that the two men "came as a package deal", Dwyer said.

It was also viewed as important that Absa was the banker to several provincial and municipal governments, and the banking group did not want these relationships to be jeopardised by "any potential rebuff", Dwyer said.

Shaik is on trial on two counts of corruption and one of fraud stemming from his financial relationship with Zuma.

He has denied all charges.

Testimony in the case yesterday centred on how Shaik and Zuma came to have their accounts moved from the Absa Business Centre to Absa Private Bank, with prosecutor Billy Downer calling a series of Absa employees and former employees to the stand.

Dwyer said that almost as soon as the bank had acquired the two men as clients, it started trying to get rid of them, realising that it did not have the resources in the small Durban office to handle such "labour-intensive" accounts.

Dwyer and former private banker Brenda Madgwick told the court how they went to extraordinary lengths to become the bankers to Shaik and Zuma, even though neither of met the minimum entry requirement of R10 million in net asset value or R2 million in investable assets.

This was despite the reservations of the Absa Private Bank official responsible for vetting potential new clients, who raised the alarm about their high risk and low value.

"The instruction from Absa's exco (executive committee) was that individual clients with sufficient influence or means should be moved to Absa Private Bank," Madgwick said. She took this to mean that at least one, but not necessarily both, of these criteria should apply.

In her original motivation for Zuma's acceptance, she pointed out that he was due for a R5 million pension pay out this year *1, and that he was an influential person.

Asked by Downer whether she discussed Zuma's financial position with him to ascertain whether he met the bank's requirements, Madgwick said: "No, it wasn't salient. The gentleman in question was the deputy president."

Dwyer said the potential R5 million pay out was the "clinching factor".

It became clear almost immediately that particularly Zuma's account would be more work than it was worth. At the end of May 2001, the same month Zuma became a client, Madgwick wrote to him to complain about excesses on his account, including that he had already exceeded his overdraft limit the day after his monthly salary was paid into his account.

By the middle of the year, Zuma's account had been moved back to Absa Business Centre. Shaik's account was moved to the centre in 2002.

The former branch manager of WesBank Durban, Anthony Lochner, also testified that in 1997 the vehicle finance house was on the brink of repossessing a Toyota Camry, purchased by Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.

In respecting her position, Lochner made contact and was informed her former husband had the vehicle.

Investigations revealed it was being held by a Toyota dealership due to an unpaid bill relating to gearbox repairs. In later communication Shaik promised two R14 000 cheques to resolve the arrears, but Lochner said the second never cleared.

With acknowledgement to Business Day.

*1 But according to the two Donateers, this pension payout had already be pledged by the one Donateer to the other Donateer in respect of the "revolving loan agreement".