The prosecution in the Schabir Shaik fraud and corruption trial on Thursday applied to reopen its case to hand in a document that they allege could prove Shaik was the author of an unsigned letter addressed to Malaysian development company Renong from Deputy President Jacob Zuma.

Prosecutor Billy Downer SC made the application to hand in the document and cross-examine Shaik on it, after the lunch adjournment following evidence heard during the morning's session.

He told the Durban High Court that the state was taken by surprise when Shaik, under cross-examination, revealed that he knew nothing about the letter addressed to Renong chairman Halim Saad, from Zuma with plans to meet in Durban to discuss the Point Development Project. Previous evidence at the trial indicates that Shaik asked Zuma to vouch for his Nkobi Group's black economic empowerment credentials when he met Malaysian businessmen.

Downer explained that the document that he plans to hand in will prove that Shaik was actually the author of the letter.

The document was found on an Nkobi computer during a police search when investigations against Shaik began.

The state alleges that the document appears to be a draft to the letter. It believes that the document is highly relevant to the corruption charge against Shaik, which alleges that he paid Zuma for his political influence.

Shaik's advocate Francois van Zyl argued that the state has never referred to the document before but has suddenly made it vital to its case against Shaik.

In response, Downer said the document was always part of the docket presented to court and that the defence had knowledge of all documents seized at Nkobi offices, so it should not act surprised.

Judge Hillary Squires quickly interrupted Downer: "But it has never seen the light of day until now".

Downer replied that although the document was in the docket, it only became relevant when Shaik denied knowing about the letter. He said the letter and document were very similar, with almost the same font.

When asked about the document, Shaik said he did not know anything about it, but was surprised that the state suddenly wanted to introduce it in court.

Squires told Shaik to leave arguments to his defence team.

He said he will need time to weigh Downer's request against possible prejudice to the accused. Squires is expected to give his decision today.

Meanwhile, Shaik and Downer clashed several times yesterday. Shaik grew frustrated when asked several repetitive questions about the irregular write-off of Zuma payments as development costs and the creation of a non-distributable reserve.

Asked a question regarding his business, Shaik told Downer that because the prosecutor is not an entrepeneur, he would not understand how business works.

At one stage, when Shaik began to insult the state's method of questioning, Squires ordered him to, "Just answer the question!"

With acknowledgements to Nivashni Nair and The Natal Witness.