Many people asked him for bribes, but he would just string them along to retain goodwill, a director for the French arms company Thomson said when confronted with claims that he had bribed Deputy President Jacob Zuma.

Alain Thetard is refusing to come to South Africa to give evidence in the corruption and fraud trial of Durban businessman Schabir Shaik.

The Durban High Court trial heard evidence yesterday from chartered accountant Gary Parker, who said he had confronted Thetard over bribe allegations.

However, Shaik's counsel, Francois van Zyl SC, objected to parts of Parker's evidence, saying they were "double hearsay". He only agreed to Parker's evidence being provisionally admitted pending further legal argument.

In 2000, Parker worked for Arthur Andersen and handled the audit of the two South African Thomson companies headed by Thetard.

At the time, Thetard's secretary was Sue Delique, who testified earlier that she had been asked to type a letter to Thomson's headquarters in France written by Thetard.

The letter, which was faxed in encrypted form to Paris, set out the amounts and conditions of a bribe agreed on at an alleged meeting held between Thetard, Shaik and Zuma.

Shaik has admitted that there was a meeting, but has denied that it was about a bribe. He is expected to testify that it was about a donation to the Jacob Zuma Education Trust.

When Delique left the company, she told the court, she accidentally took the handwritten letter Thetard had given her and a disk with a typed copy of the fax with her. She later told Parker and his colleague, David Green, about it.

Parker testified that Delique had said Thetard paid bribes to a senior government official for defence contracts.

"She did not hand us anything. She had an A4 envelope with her and said the letter was in there. She was very scared. She was smoking incessantly," Parker said.

He said he then discussed the bribery claims with Thetard.

"He denied it. He said he was sometimes asked for bribes. To maintain the goodwill of those asking him, he would string them along. Head office would then refuse their request. He said it was a normal practice he undertook," Parker said.

"We could find no sign of bribe payments. We had nothing tangible.

Delique was also in a dispute about back pay and she looked as if she was slightly aggrieved. We considered the matter closed. If Delique gave us any supporting evidence, our attitude would have been different," Parker said.

"Mr Shaik would say that he has no knowledge of what you asked or said to Delique or Thetard," said Van Zyl, who had said earlier that Shaik knew nothing about the fax.

The court also heard that Shaik had asked a building contractor, Eric Malengret, if Zuma thought "money grew on trees". Malengret was building Zuma's traditional homestead near Nkandla. He said he had first quoted the "deputy", as he referred to Zuma, R2.4 million for the development but had promised to cut costs wherever he could.

He said he had no final written agreement with Zuma about payment for the development: "I took him on his word. He was the second man in charge of this country. I regarded his credibility as high."

He said he had received a number of deposits for the development from several sources, but none from Shaik. He said he had had had one meeting with Shaik to discuss the plans for the development.

"How the hell does the deputy think he is going to pay for this? Does he think money grows on trees?" Shaik had asked.

Malengret said soon after this Shaik had instructed him to stop building. "I phoned the deputy to ask if I must stop. He was surprised. He said I must carry on."

Under cross-examination, Malengret said Zuma had paid him everything he owed.

Meanwhile, Sapa reports that the former head of parliament's Standing Committee on Public Accounts, Gavin Woods, told the court yesterday that the Defence Department's former chief procurement officer, Chippy Shaik, had lied to his committee.

Schabir Shaik's brother, Chippy, had "misinformed" Scopa when he said he had recused himself from meetings relating to the government's multibillion-rand arms deal.

Woods, an IFP MP, said the committee had a number of concerns relating to the acquisition process and that conflict of interest because of association was one of them.

He said Chippy Shaik had been "extremely influential" throughout the procurement process and that Schabir, a businessman, had an interest in the arms deal, particularly the corvette contract.

Woods will continue his evidence today.

With acknowledgements to Estelle Ellis and The Mercury.