It was two difficult and absent French businessmen who took centre stage on the last day of oral evidence for the state in the trial of Durban businessman Schabir Shaik.

Shaik has pleaded not guilty to two charges of corruption and one of fraud.

It is the second charge of corruption against him that involves the French, as it focuses on an alleged agreement to bribe Deputy President Jacob Zuma by French arms company Thomson.

Senior special investigator Johan du Plooy on Wednesday told the court that it was difficult to get answers out of the French.

The one missing witness, Pierre Moynot, was present at the first day of the trial and named as a prospective state witness.

However, Moynot was refusing to consult with the state, said Du Plooy, and they had decided not to call him.

The other, Alain Thetard, is one of the three people alleged to be involved in an agreement with Shaik to pay Zuma a million-rand bribe.

Du Plooy said he had obtained two warrants for Thetard's arrest after the Scorpions decided that he must be charged with corruption and perjury.

These warrants were withdrawn after negotiations. As he understood it, said Du Plooy, this was done on condition that Thetard admitted writing the controversial document setting out the terms of the agreement.

Shaik's counsel, Francois van Zyl, on Wednesday read out an affidavit by Thetard in which he admits this, but says he did not agree with the interpretation the state was giving to the fax.

Thetard said it was "merely a rough draft of a document in which I intended to record my thoughts on separate issues in a manner which was not only disjointed but also lacked circumspection".

He also said Shaik had "at no stage" requested a bribe to be paid to the deputy president.

In the same affidavit, Thetard said he did not fax it anywhere, nor did he direct for it to be faxed.

"I crumpled it and threw it into the wastepaper basket, from where it was possibly retrieved and provided to the state," he said.

Earlier, Thetard's secretary, Sue Delique, said he had asked her to type the note and fax it.

Du Plooy also told the court that their attempts to have Thetard questioned by a French judge had up to now not drawn a response from French authorities.

"You mean that your efforts got stuck somewhere on the Champs Elysées?" Judge Hilary Squires remarked.

Starting on Friday, the court is due to hear the first major legal battle between the parties when they argue about the admissibility of a number of "disputed documents", most notably Thetard's handwritten note.

The state wants this document, among others, to be accepted into evidence. But as the man who wrote it was not before court, either as an accused or as a witness, it is technically hearsay evidence.

To get the court to consider the document, the state would have to prove that it falls under one of the exceptions which could be allowed.

Both parties have retired to their corners to consider their positions and draw up their final heads of argument. The trial resumes on Friday.

With acknowledgements to Estelle Ellis and The Star.