Durban - There is no evidence Deputy President Jacob Zuma lodged a copy of an alleged R2m revolving-credit agreement between himself and Durban businessman Schabir Shaik with Parliament or the office of the presidency, according to the state.

The loan agreement, supposedly signed on May 16 1999, is a key piece in the defence's armoury, as it would refute allegations that Shaik paid R1,2m for Zuma without expecting reimbursement.

Closing the state's fraud and corruption case against Shaik, chief investigator Johan du Plooy testified that the document had never seen the light of day either in the parliamentary confidential registry or with the secretary to cabinet.

Shaik has admitted to paying a host of Zuma's bills, but said this was friendship and that the loan agreement detailed how the deputy president would repay the money at 2% above the prime lending rate.

Du Plooy said yesterday that the National Prosecuting Authority contacted National Assembly speaker Baleka Mbete in November, asking her to access the confidential register of members' interests and locate the loan agreement.

The state also wanted to peruse entries in the members' registry pertaining to Zuma since July 1999.

A letter from Mbete to NPA investigators, sent at the end of January and admitted as evidence in the Durban High Court yesterday, said the original loan agreement was not in the confidential register. But she said that Zuma had shown a copy of the document to the joint committee on ethics.

Mbete said in the letter that she did not know what had happened to the document. "Zuma may have lodged the original loan agreement with secretary to cabinet," she said.

The loan agreement was also a liability and therefore need not be disclosed in terms of the executive ethics code, she said in her letter.

Mbete said that "at no stage" had the defence attempted to obtain any documents relating to the loan deal, to which it had previously referred in order to back up its argument.

Du Plooy said inquiries within the office of the presidency's director-general had failed to unearth the document. However, he said, the state would continue pursuing any avenues that may remain open in producing the loan agreement.

With acknowledgements to Nicola Jenvey and the Business Day.