The first day of cross-examination of one of the state's key witnesses in Schabir Shaik's fraud and corruption trial was Tuesday overshadowed by an alternation between a "member" of the defence team - reportedly Shaik himself - and a policeman outside the Durban High Court.

Shaik's spokesman Dominic Ntsele said when Shaik arrived at the court in a black BMW with advocate Francois van Zyl, Ntsele and a driver, a guard approached and was "rude and loud" because their vehicle was not allowed to park in the space immediately outside the court buildings.

Superintendent Vishnu Naidoo confirmed that a police officer has laid charges of crimen injuria and intimidation charges against "the unnamed" member of Shaik's legal team. Shaik's brother Mo confirmed the charges are against Schabir.

Naidoo said the officer was told the court is "no place for wit ous".

The name of the officer is being withheld to prevent further victimisation.

Ntsele explained the situation as he saw it: "Let me just give you some background. When we had left the Nkobi offices, Van Zyl was very quiet as he wanted to concentrate because today was a big day. He even asked for the radio in the car to be put off. When Shaik wanted to ask him a question, he insisted on being quiet as to focus on today's proceedings," he told journalists.

Ntsele said Shaik took offence when the guard "started to upset" Van Zyl on a "very important day".

"Shaik got very upset and said something to the guard. A police officer then responded," he said.

Initially Ntsele did not want to divulge what Shaik allegedly said to offend the police officer, but he later said Shaik, who was "visibly upset", said: "Your days are over".

Naidoo said the docket will be handed over to senior public prosecutor for a decision on whether to take the issue further.

After the incident, Mo Shaik told journalists: "So what, it's just another charge". However, when the media approached Schabir for comment after the day's proceedings, Mo quickly stepped in, pushed a microphone away, and shouted at journalists for "ambushing" his brother. "Why don't you just leave the man alone and stop asking for comment? Speak to the spokesman."

Meanwhile, the day's proceedings began with a look into the credibility of Johan van der Walt, the KPMG forensic director who compiled a 259-page report as evidence against Shaik.

After listening to Van der Walt cite his experience and the way the report was compiled, Van Zyl said that as a forensic accountant, Van der Walt lacks expertise regarding issues specifically relating to the charges against Shaik.

One of the issues that was dealt with was the irregular write-off of a loan made to Deputy President Jacob Zuma.

Shaik's trial centres around alleged corrupt and fraudulent financial transactions between Shaik and Zuma. The state claims Shaik paid Zuma at least R1,2 million for his influence in business deals, including the arms deal.

According to the state, Shaik played a pivotal role in the alleged bribe solicited from French arms company Thomson-CSF.

Van Zyl accused Van der Walt of "trying to make the facts fit" the state's charges against Shaik.

Van der Walt stood his ground and denied it. He told the court he knew what some of the charges against Shaik were as he prepared his report, but at no stage did he force himself to come to the state's conclusions.

The afternoon session focused on Zuma's controversial Nkandla village. According to the state, Shaik's payments towards the village was a "scheme to disguise the payment of money due to Zuma in terms of the agreement to bribe him".

Cross-examination will continue today after the testimony of a state witness who is flying in from London. The evidence of John Dover of Symbol Technologies relates to the formation of non-distributable reserves which are directly linked to the loan write-off.

Dover met with Shaik when the Nkobi group via Prodiba were bidding for the tender to supply driving licence cards in South Africa.

With acknowledgements to Nivashni Nair and The Natal Witness.