The prosecution in the Schabir Shaik fraud and corruption trial has asked the state to change Shaik's bail conditions after he launched a verbal attack on advocate Anton Steynberg before the start of proceedings in courtroom A on Friday.

"I'm not scared of you, I'll sort you out after the trial.

"You're a racist, get that into your thick skull.

"You will be running from me like Bulelani (Ngcuka)," Shaik shouted at Steynberg.

Prosecutor Billy Downer said Shaik's behaviour was "unacceptable" and called on judge Hillary Squires to alter his bail conditions to prohibit him from screaming or insulting members of the prosecution.

Defence advocate Francois van Zyl described the incident as "unfortunate," saying his client was upset because investigators had attempted to contact the staff of Shaik's company, Nkobi Holdings, directly.

Squires said it was not the time to deal with the issue and told Downer that if the state wanted to take the matter further it should lodge a formal application.

However, it is believed that Shaik has already apologised to Steynberg and Van Zyl will formally put the apology on record next week.

Last year a policeman based at the court laid a charge of crimen injuria against Shaik after an alleged racist verbal attack outside the building.

Friday's incident was followed by the testimony of Pierre Moynot, the first representative of French Arms manufacturer Thomson CSF to take the stand in the Shaik trial.

Moynot said there was never any doubt about Shaik's Black Economic Empowerment credentials. *1

"Anyone who is not a white male is black *2," Moynot told the Durban High Court.

Throughout the trial the defence has maintained that Deputy President Jacob Zuma had been roped in to help sort out issues concerning Thomson CSF's misunderstanding that Shaik's Nkobi Holdings was a suitable BEE company.

During an official visit to London in 1998 Zuma even made time to meet with another Thomson boss, J P Perrier, to tell them that Shaik and his company did qualify.

In his evidence in chief Shaik had also told the court that Thomson believed that black referred to African and not other races.

Moynot, who was previously on the state's list of witnesses, appeared on behalf of Shaik on Friday.

He said someone visited their offices in London when they had already chosen Shaik's Nkobi Holdings as their BEE partner.

This person - who he has not named - said that Thomson had made "a big mistake" and that former president Nelson Mandela and his deputy, Thabo Mbeki, disliked Shaik. Moynot said they later discovered this was not the case.

On Friday he also said it was common practice by arms companies around the world to participate in behind the scene wheeling and dealing or "the informal process" as the state refers to it, so that they could make contact with people in high places.

Downer asked Moynot if they disclosed details of the informal process in their documents.

"It's a common thing, everyone does that, there is no need to [put it in documents].

"There is nothing to hide" said Moynot.

He said decisions on arms were always made at the highest political level like cabinet. Downer asked Moynot if Shaik had ever spoken about his "connectivity".

"Yes, but he was not the only one" replied Moynot.

He said at one stage during the rumours about Nkobi's unsuitability Thomson's thought it might have to change its BEE partner.

Moynot was also questioned about the encrypted fax drawn up by his colleague Alain Thetard which records a bribe of R500 000 for Zuma from Thomsons.

The state says this bribe was in exchange for protection during investigations into arms deal irregularities.

On Friday Moynot said he had no knowledge of the fax at that time.

He confirmed that Thetard was still employed by Thomson and said that there had been an investigation after the emergence of the fax because "we are very sensitive to stuff like this *3."

He also said that "Thetard always denied he sent such a fax."

One issue he did clear up was the identity of the "tailleur" which appeared in some of the state's documents.

Moynot said it was Yusuf Surtee, Mandela's tailor, who was said to be an influential person by Shaik.

Moynot's cross-examination continues on Monday.

With acknowledgement to Wendy Jasson da Costa and Sapa.

*1 That what Moynot says now, but the other encrypted faxes in the 1997 - 1998 period show otherwise.

*2 That what Moynot says now, but their was major confusion in the 1997 - 1998 period, even amongst organisations such as Armscor and AMD (Aeronatics Maritime and Defence-Related Industries Association). At that time the term SMME was predominant, indeed BEE had not yet officially arisen. Initially there was no outward racial connotation of the term SMME. Later Armscor came to consider SMME as only applying to PDIs (Previously Disadvantaged Individuals) which, due to those idiots Malan, Verwoed, etc. (BMT - before my time), meant that I had to go to the army and do camps and leopard-crawl through the thorn bushes with my sleeves rolled up while other played rounds of golf with Robin.

But SMME later, circa 2000 transmogrified officially into BEE, but that was after the Arms Deals were signed on 1999-12-03.

Officially, in the evaluation and selection, process points for PDI were initially stipulated, but finally excluded from the scoring.

The reason for this is that the dealmakers high up in the Cabinet and Shell House (like Moynot said), wanted to force the overseas bidders to include SOE (Sons of the Earth) in the deals, but once the VCF (Very Chosen Few) were secured, then they didn't want irksome competition from other PDI-linked bidders in the final selection.

Di's dinkum.

Anyway Moynot knows most of this because he was a co-opted member of the board of AMD during the relevant period.

*3 Of course, that's why there were as many encrypting fax machines and shredders in the Thomson-CSF offices and so many of the communications were not only encrypted, but couched in opaque and intriguing language.