South Africa's multibillion-rand arms deal was in the spotlight at the fraud and corruption trial of Schabir Shaik in the Durban High Court on Tuesday morning.

State witness David Griesel was taking the court through the various steps involved in the acquisition process.

Griesel joined Armscor, the country's armaments corporation, in 1979 where he is currently the assistant general manager of acquisition. Griesel said Armscor's main objective was to act as an acquisition agent for the Department of Defence.

The state alleges that Shaik, who has pleaded not guilty to fraud and corruption charges, solicited a half a million rand a year bribe for Deputy President Jacob Zuma from French arms company Thomson CSF.

The bribe was in exchange for protection during an investigation into irregularities into the arms deal.

The state says that through Zuma's influence, Shaik and his Nkobi Holdings company secured a slice of the arms deal.

On Tuesday, the court also heard how Shaik's brother Chippy, who was head of acquisition at the Defence Department, also served on one of the acquisition management committees, Sofcom.

Chippy Shaik had also made presentations to the committee which finally decided on the preferred bidder.

The German Frigate Consortium (GFC) eventually won the corvette tender. Schabir Shaik, Nkobi Holdings and Thomson CSF had shares in African Defence Systems, which was part of the GFC.

With acknowledgements to Sapa and the Mail & Guardian.