The author of the infamous encrypted fax, Alain Thetard, was a liar, the defence in the Schabir Shaik fraud and corruption trial said on Thursday.

"Thetard was not an honest person, he was unreliable," advocate Francois van Zyl told the Durban High Court. He said the encrypted fax was not a true representation of what happened in a meeting between Thetard, Shaik and deputy president Jacob Zuma in Durban in March 2000.

Van Zyl was contesting the admissibility of several documents handed in as evidence by the State. He said Thetard was no stranger to communicating falsehoods to (Thomson CSF's head office in) Paris, especially in financial matters.

The fax could not and should not be used "as an executive statement in furtherance of a common purpose", said Van Zyl. The encrypted fax -- a key document in a charge of corruption against Shaik -- records a bribe of R500,000 per year for deputy president Jacob Zuma from the French arms company. The bribe was allegedly in exchange for protection during investigations into irregularities in South Africa's' multi-billion rand arms deal.

The defence insists all meetings and correspondence regarding money was for the Jacob Zuma Education Trust Fund. Van Zyl said Thetard, the Thomson boss in South Africa, could have "tried to run a fast one on the company" to try and get money.

According to Van Zyl, Zuma had also encouraged the probe into the arms deal which was not in keeping with the conduct of someone who had accepted a substantial amount of money. "It doesn't make sense," he contended. Van Zyl said it was only the encrypted fax and "nothing else" that recorded what took place at the March meeting. The fax was Thetard's "creation" to falsely indicate what had transpired in the meeting.

Van Zyl also called into question the credibility of Susan Delique, Thetard's former secretary who said she was given a hand-written note by him, typed it up in fax form and then on his instruction faxed it to his managers in France and Mauritius, Jean de Jomaron and Jean Paul Perrier.

In her testimony early in the trial Delique said she was unhappy and resigned from Thomson CSF, grabbing all the things on her desk. These included the hand-written note and a disc containing the typed version. Thetard had told investigators the hand-written note was crumpled and thrown into a bin because he had only been jotting down his thoughts. Van Zyl said Delique's evidence on how she came into possession of the hand-written document and how she typed it was "so improbable" that it reeked of a witness not telling the whole story.

He also described as "unsatisfactory" her explanation about faxing the document. If one looked at her evidence, "all her versions can't be true".

Thursday's proceedings followed an early adjournment on Tuesday after the defence said Shaik was battling to stay awake in court because of the medication he was taking. During the lunch break that followed he consulted a specialist physician who recommended bed rest for his respiratory tract infection and the chest pains he was suffering as a result of blood pressure problems.

On Thursday, a drowsy-looking Shaik said he was under pressure and trying not to become to dependent on his medication.

The trial continues.

With acknowledgement to Sapa.