Legal teams on both sides of the Schabir Shaik fraud and corruption trial are back at work although the case only resumes in the high court here on January 31 after the end of its December adjournment.

Yesterday, both sides were finalising their heads of argument which must be filed with Judge Hillary Squires by January 24.

Senior State prosecutor Billy Downer SC said he and his team were still uncertain how many witnesses would be called but it would be "a maximum of four or five".

Once all the state witnesses had testified, the two legal teams would argue the admissibility of some of the documents handed in as evidence.

Downer said there were about 20 of these documents, including the so-called encrypted fax recording a R500 000 bribe to Deputy President Jacob Zuma, documents seized at Thomson-CSF in Johannesburg, documents seized in France and some of the statements made by witnesses based on what Thomson-CSF boss Alain Thetard told them.

Shaik, a businessman here, faces one charge of fraud and two of corruption. This includes soliciting a R500 000-a-year bribe from French arms company Thomson-CSF, for Zuma, in exchange for protection during investigations into arms deal irregularities.

Shaik's attorney Reeves Parsee said it was impossible to say how long the case would continue or, how many witnesses the defence would call.

He said their strategy depended on what the state did but "we'll attempt to rebut whatever we can".

Shaik said he had spent the last two weeks consulting with his legal team in Cape Town.

He said he had "just rested at home" during the court recess and that he was confident because "global matters are more alarming than the local matters".

Compared to the tsunami, the conflict in Iraq and the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, Shaik believes "mine is not a problem, just a slight irritation ... like a mosquito around your ankle".

 With acknowledgements to Sapa and the Cape Times.