Letters asking for money scrutiny

What the state construed as an effort by Durban businessman Schabir Shaik to facilitate a bribe for Deputy President Jacob Zuma had been an effort to obtain a donation for an education trust, Shaik's counsel said.

As he cross-examined forensic auditor Johan van der Walt, on his 15th day in the witness box yesterday, advocate Francois van Zyl SC explained to the Durban High Court what his client's version of events would be, to give Van der Walt a chance to comment on it.

In Van der Walt's report and in the indictment, it is alleged that Shaik wrote a series of letters asking for payment of a R1 million bribe to Zuma. The state says the bribe was agreed to in March 2000.

But Van Zyl said his client would say that the letters had been written in an effort to get the French to pay an agreed donation to the Jacob Zuma Education Trust. (It was to the same trust to which former president Nelson Mandela had donated R1 million.)

Van Zyl said his client would say that Jean Paul Perrier of Thales, the French arms company that had allegedly agreed to pay the bribe, had agreed to make the donation during a meeting in Paris in May 2000.

Shaik wrote a letter to the South African representative of Thales, Alain Thetard, in August 2000. An extract from the letter reads: "I have been trying to reach you for the last three weeks on matters of extreme importance. I have also raised a very important matter with Jean Paul Perrier which he had sanctioned, for implementation by yourself."

"This was done during our last meeting in Paris several months ago and, despite my several attempts to raise this issue with you in order to resolve the undertaking, you have continually ignored this concern."

Van Zyl said Shaik had become embarrassed because the education trust was "gearing up for bursaries and had no funds *1".

"He (Shaik) was embarrassed because he had promised Zuma," Van Zyl said.

"It is a noble idea," Van der Walt commented. "But it would not have been regarded as a secret. It is something to be proud of. Why is it not referred to (by name) in correspondence? Nowhere did I see any indication of something they must be proud of," he said.

Van Zyl said other correspondence construed by the state to be written to prompt the French into paying the bribe money had in fact dealt with a service- provider agreement, set up between one of Shaik's companies and Thales.

Van Zyl said Shaik would testify that he had realised that he had used R900 000 of the money donated to Zuma by Mandela, which was intended for use by Zulu traditional leaders. He then made an arrangement to pay the money back in instalments.

"It was against this background that Shaik spoke to Thetard about the service- provider agreement," Van Zyl said. "Any comment?"

"No, not yet," replied Van Der Walt with a little smile, who at times can give very long answers to short questions.

Van Zyl said Shaik would tell the court that they had agreed to research possible projects for Thales to invest in, but the research had turned out to be "costly and time-consuming". It was later dropped.

Van der Walt said he had a document in his possession where Nkobi Holdings had made representations to their bank. In this document they indicated that they were expecting R1 million to be paid to the company as "Thomson's Commission" *3 (Thales was formerly known as Thomson).

"Nowhere was an indication given that the money was to leave Nkobi immediately and be used to pay Development Africa," Van der Walt said.

Van der Walt's cross-examination was interrupted to lead the evidence of Police Chief Inspector Pierre Coret, of Mauritius. Coret had taken part in authorised raids on the offices of Thales in Mauritius, after a request by the Scorpions.

Van Zyl said he had a document showing that authorities in Mauritius had agreed not to send 13 French documents to South Africa. These documents had been seized by a colleague of Coret's, an Inspector Jugoo, who had died last month *4. The documents seized by Coret had been returned to Thales by order of the court.

Van Zyl said that the defence would at a later stage attack the admissibility of the documents if the state attempted to hand them in as evidence.

Also yesterday, Judge Hilary Squires said he was "inclined to dismiss" an application by the state to lead the evidence of Prof John Lennon via satellite link from Glasgow, Scotland.

Squires said he considered the venue proposed for the link-up as too small to be a court of law, as it could not provide full access to all members of the public who wished to attend.

The venue, at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, can house only 15 people. Squires also said he had not considered Van Zyl's legal-technical objections to the application, but would do so if the state could find a suitable venue and renew its application.

The trial continues.

With acknowledgements to The Mercury.

*   Rubbish, bursaries are normally awarded in the latter part of the year because students register for universities, technikons, etc. early in the year (like January and February). Asking for the donation for educational bursaries in March is just too late.

Even if one is preparing funding for the next year, there an unavailability of funds in March or even May is not of "extreme importance".

Furthermore, during the effective implementation period of the "service provider" agreement and in a letter dated 17 July 2001 from Accused 1 (Shaikh) to Thomson-CSF executive Pierre Moynot, Accused 1 threatens to “withdraw from all structures of ADS and Thompson……in addition to me throwing in the towel on matters in which I believe will be in the interest of our state.”

While providing educational bursaries to its less fortunate citizens is surely a matter of interest to our state, slow payments of requisite funding is hardly cause for a more fortunate private citizen to throw towels in the name of the state.

*2  In my opinion, under cross-examination it is normally better to give short answers to long questions and short answers to short questions.

*3  Is it plausible that "Thomson's Commission" be confused with "Thomson's Donation"?

*4 A number of people have died when they have become involved with matters involving Thomson-CSF and bribery and corruption investigations, inter alia :

Looks like a total of 11 dead persons so far.

It must be just about time to call in Chief Inspector Tom Barnaby (aka John Nettles) and Sergeant Gavin Troy (aka Daniel Casey) or Detective Sergeant Dan Scott (aka John Hopkins) to get in on the investigative action, except in this case the deaths seem to occur all year round.

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