During her second day of testimony at the Schabir Shaik fraud and corruption trial, former Nkobi Holdings accountant Celia Bester claimed that more than one government minister was allegedly bribed by Shaik.

Bester on Wednesday told the Durban High Court that she never understood why Shaik was paying ministers "to keep them happy", when Nkobi Holdings was not "surviving".

She resigned when payments, including loans to Deputy President Jacob Zuma, were written off as development costs for one of Shaik's companies.

Bester said the only logical explanation for these payments and the "unethical" accounting procedures at the company was that they were bribes to "ministers".

Although Shaik faces charges linked to alleged fraudulent and corrupt financial transactions between Zuma and himself, Shaik's loan account statement, which was earlier presented at court, suggests that he could have made payments to more than one government minister.

The statement reflects at least five payments with the initials "MM" next to them, allegedly written by Shaik. At the end of the document, in the same handwriting it reads: "Inv. MM Invoices Flisane Inv".

Flisane Investments is owned by the wife of former transport minister Mac Maharaj.

Maharaj was transport minister when Shaik's Nkobi Investments was part of the N3 Toll Road Consortium, awarded a R2,5 billion tender to upgrade the N3.

The department also awarded Prodiba the R265 million contract to produce new credit card driver's licences. Shaik's Kobitech was part of Prodiba.

Throughout cross-examination on Wednesday, defence advocate Francois van Zyl told Bester he was only interested in payments made to Zuma and not the "other ministers".

He rejected her claim that his client bribed Zuma.

Van Zyl put it to Bester that she was unaware of the R2 million loan agreement between the two men and acknowledgements of debt, and came to the "incorrect" conclusion that Shaik was bribing Zuma.

Bester replied that she is entitled to her opinion and could find no other logical explanation for the R1,2 million write-off. Payments to Zuma were not accurately reflected in Nkobi Holdings' books, she said.

Van Zyl said that when Bester mentioned the legalities of the write-off to Shaik, he immediately brought it up with his auditor and the company's financial director Colin Isaacs, who later told Bester that she had incorrectly assessed the situation.

Bester shook her head and responded, "Then Mr Isaacs and I went to different schools of accounting".

Responding to Bester's claim that Shaik was evading paying income tax by borrowing money from the company instead of receiving a formal salary, Van Zyl said there were obvious discrepancies in the salary scale at Nkobi Holdings.

Shaik, the director and CEO of the company, was earning R20 000 a month while Bester was paid R17 500 a month.

Bester said the norm is that directors increase their salaries instead of decreasing their loan accounts.

When asked what she knew about the relationship between Shaik and Zuma, Bester said Shaik told her they were personal friends and that he was "helping [Zuma] out" because Zuma could not handle his finances and was always "getting into trouble with all his wives".

Bester said Shaik held back her salary and bonus when she resigned and they had a meeting at which she was very angry. The salary was later paid.

The state will introduce its ninth witness on Thursday.

Marius Rheeder is a handwriting expert who is expected to give evidence on the encrypted fax in which Alain Thetard of Thomson-CSF allegedly documents the bribe agreement with Zuma.

With acknowledgements to Nivashni Nair and The Natal Witness.