Defence advocate in the Schabir Shaik trial, Francois van Zyl, complained to the court on Tuesday that parts of his closing arguments, which had not yet been dealt with, had appeared in weekend newspapers.

"I assume they had access to your arguments," said Judge Hillary Squires.

Van Zyl replied that he was not sure whether the media had gained access from his team or some other source, but there was an undertaking by journalists that they would only write what had been covered in court.

"I didn't read it," said Squires, referring to the reports.

He told Van Zyl if there was something that he (Squires) should not know, Van Zyl should just assume that he did not.

Referring to the payments made by Shaik on behalf of Deputy President Jacob Zuma, Van Zyl said they could not be seen in isolation but that the court had to consider the history between the two men.

He also dealt with Zuma's intervention when French arms company Thomson CSS believed that Shaik's Nkobi group of companies would not be a suitable BEE partner in South Africa's arms acquisition process.

According to Van Zyl, Zuma "as part of the ANC leadership helped a loyal ANC member to dispel a rumour".

The defence is expected to wrap up their closing argument on Wednesday.

With acknowledgements to Sapa and Independent Online.