The state wrapped up its case yesterday in the trial of local businessman Shabir Shaik , even though two critical chapters still remain.

During the final stages of the state's presentation of evidence, prosecutor Billy Downer explained the details of how a document would be entered into the record.

"I trust that this is the last one," Judge Hilary Squires said, glancing at the hundreds of boxes of leverarch files that were piling up on the desks of the legal teams .

The case was postponed for a day yesterday, to allow lawyers for the state and the defence to prepare arguments on the admissibility of certain documentary evidence.

This technical argument will be crucial, not only for Shaik, but also indirectly for Deputy President Jacob Zuma, particularly regarding the third count of bribery.

During the trial testimony on documents was admitted by the state and the defence on the basis that the sides would argue over admissibility at a later date.

That time has now arrived, and although hundreds of pages of documents are under scrutiny among them lies the crucial and now notorious encrypted fax.

The fax allegedly sets out the terms and participants of a bribe, linking French defence company Thales' local representative Alain Thetard, Shaik and Zuma. Thetard has refused to testify in SA about the fax, and is not available to testify to the court about its authenticity.

If this fax is ruled inadmissible by virtue of being hearsay, the third count of bribery "starts to look a little shaky", said one of the lawyers at the trial .

Zuma is implicated in other aspects of the case, but they are less serious than the charge of bribery.

The legal arguments, which will begin tomorrow , are centred on the hearsay rules in the Criminal Procedure Act, which allows limited exceptions to the general prohibition against hearsay evidence.

One such exception is that some forms of hearsay could be allowed if they are "executive statements" by a co-conspirator in the furtherance of the conspiracy.

The defence is likely to argue that none of these requirements has been met, and the state will argue the opposite.

With acknowledgements to Tim Cohen, Nicola Jenvey and Business Day.

*1 Sound good to me :

executive

Alain Thetard, chief executive officer of Thomson-CSF (SA) (Pty) Ltd, director of African Defence Systems (Pty) Ltd

statement

a record of a stated position, this time in the party's own handwriting and admitted in sworn affidavit as such co-conspirator : one of three donateers, meeting in secret (the meeting is still denied by the Chief Donations Officer)

in the furtherance of the conspiracy

with a stated purpose of one party enriching another party in order that enriched party commits unlawful act to the benefit of enriching party/parties

Even a very average student in Critical Reasoning I (or Logic I) could get 5% toward his end of semester examination without the requirement to use crib notes.