Corruption accused will admit to fraud in bid to clear Jacob Zuma’s name

Schabir Shaik is set to fall on his sword this week and take full blame for the R1-million bribe he allegedly solicited for Deputy President Jacob Zuma.

In a last-ditch attempt to clear his former political patron’s name, Shaik will ask the Durban High Court to consider that he lied to the French arms company to get the money for himself and not for Zuma.

Shaik’s counsel, Francois van Zyl, will tell the court that Shaik will say that he misrepresented himself to Alain Thetard, the chief executive of Thomson-CSF (now Thint) to try to secure the payment for himself.

This startling disclosure is contained in the heads of argument submitted by Van Zyl, which will be discussed only when the trial resumes on Tuesday.

In the documents, Van Zyl says Shaik stands by his original version that he solicited the payment from the arms company as a donation for the Jacob Zuma Education Trust.

However, should the court reject this version, Shaik will ask the court to consider the probability that he tried to get the money for himself *1

In that case, he will admit lying to Thetard. Van Zyl will argue that Shaik may have tried to defraud Thetard and Thomson without Zuma’s knowledge *2, but he is not guilty of corruption, or of the alternative charge of benefiting from the proceeds of crime.

If this version of events is accepted, it will remove the cloud of impropriety that has hung *3 over Zuma, hampering his chances of succeeding President Thabo Mbeki in 2009.

Van Zyl’s argument reads: “If accused 1 [Shaik] merely used Zuma to convince Thetard to pay him R500 000 a year until the dividends from ADS [African Defence Systems] became available, without Zuma’s knowledge, accused 1 did not commit the offence in question. Accused 1 may, however, have committed a fraud on Thetard.

“He could easily have convinced Thetard that he was making a request for a bribe on behalf of Zuma. It was no secret that Zuma and accused 1 were friends.” *4

Shaik faces a corruption charge which stems from an encrypted fax seized during a raid at Thetard’s office, detailing his request for the R500 000-a-year payment.

The fax specified that the payment was needed for Zuma for the protection of the arms company during investigations as well as for permanent support for future projects.

Van Zyl says there is a chance that Shaik got Zuma to unwittingly use a code word that confirmed the bribe request *5 to the French arms company.

“Depending on what code was agreed upon between Thetard and accused 1, it would certainly not have been an insurmountable problem to accused 1 to convince Zuma to use the code ... Zuma would have no knowledge of what accused 1 wrote to Thetard in the letters in question. His sole source of information in this regard would have been accused 1.

“There is not the slightest chance that Thetard or anyone else on the side of Thomson would later discuss the bribe agreement with Zuma.”

This, the submission states, is why Shaik “chose not to take the court into his confidence on this charge”.

So far, Shaik’s version of events has been that he requested the money as a donation to Zuma’s trust.

Shaik’s departure from his stock story comes after a week when his credibility as a witness has been hammered by the prosecution.

It’s not the first time Shaik’s lies have come under the spotlight.

On February 28, he admitted under cross-examination that he had repeatedly lied about his educational qualifications.

If found guilty, Shaik could face a minimum of 15 years in jail.

If the state proves that he solicited a bribe on behalf of Zuma, the judge could recommend that he be charged with corruption, court papers show.

With acknowledgements to Paddy Harper and the Sunday Times.

If you don't like my principles, I have others.
or :
If you don't like my version of the truth, I have others.

*2  Unfortunately, this just cannot work - for the following reasons :

• Thetard has averred under oath that he authored the encrypted fax;
• Thetard's fax states that he (Thetard) met Zuma and Shaikh at the meeting(s) of 10/11 March 2000; and
• Shaikh has admitted that the meeting between Thetard, Zuma and himself took place on 10 March 2000.

*4  This is plainly simplistic and desperate balderdash.

If this version were true, why :
was Zuma so set on avoiding either properly and fully answering the investigators' questions; and
was Zuma so set on avoiding a appearance in Judge Squires's court.

It is just so implausible that Shaikh could get Zuma to utter a "clear, unambiguous" encoded signal in a business meeting so that Thetard unequivocally knew that Zuma accepted the bribe arrangement.

*5   Imagine the possibilities that the fly on the wall could have heard :

• "The cow jumped over the moon."
• "The son of the earth passed under the cuckoo's nest."
• "Nksosana's Merc needs filling up and make sure it's unleaded."
• The Valour-class corvette's combat suite will not suffer any electromagnetic compatibility problems."
• Zweli's tinted windows are darker than mine."
• Yusuf is sure going to want an accredited member of the Public Accountants and Auditors Board to do a regulatory audit on the spread of wonga."
• A clutch of A400Ms are an excellent way of simultaneously rewarding EADS for their kind donation of 33+ Mercs and Pajeros and at the same time getting Denel out of the deepest of dwangas - maybe Thomson-CSF should be interested in a share of EADS."
• Cut the small talk, after prayers on Friday let's all go down to Zeta's and test the combined pharmacological effects of Johnnie Walker Blue Label and something a friend I met on my last trip to Columbia recommended as a excellent candidate for countertrade the next time they were investing in a few hundred 40 mm grenade launchers, a few thousand 5,56 mm carbines and a few million rounds of 5,56 ball ammunition for the latter.
• Stuff the 5,56, real men go for a 7,62.
• Stuff the 5,56 and the 7,62; I'm a lover not a fighter; I'm for a round of Robin, maybe preceded by a royal game of golf.
• etc.