Durban businessman Schabir Shaik this morning admitted that the controversial French bribery note was written by Thomson director, Alain Thetard.

This note sets out an alleged record of understanding between French arms company Thomson and Deputy President Jacob Zuma.

It was an offer to pay Zuma R1 million over two years in exchange for his protection and the use of his name.

Handwriting expert Senior Supt Marius Rehder, from the Questioned Documents Unit of the SAPS, told the Durban High Court that he had no doubt that the note was written by Thetard.

After objections by Shaik's counsel, Advocate Francois van Zyl SC, Judge Hilary Squires however stopped lead prosecutor Billy Downer SC from leading further evidence about what happened to the original of the note.

Van Zyl then interjected and said while his client had no personal knowledge of the note, he was prepared to admit that Thetard wrote it.

Rehder was asked to determine if the note had been crumpled up or not, as Thetard had said in previous court documents that he had thrown the note into the wastebasket. His secretary, Sue Delique, told the court earlier however that he had given it to her and asked her to type it.

Rehder was not allowed to tell the court what his conclusion about this was as Squires said at this stage what had happened to the handwritten note was irrelevant.

Rehder said that it was highly likely that Shaik wrote a note with the word "conflicts with intention" next to an anti-bribery clause in a service provider agreement between Nkobi Holdings and Thomson.

The State said that this agreement was an effort to hide the payment of bribe money.

Van Zyl however had said previously that his client would tell the court that he could not remember writing the note, but that if he did it would have been about a donation for the Jacob Zuma Education Trust.

The next witness for the state is John Dwyer, who ran the Durban branch of Absa Private Bank in 2001 .

He explained to the court this morning how both Shaik and Zuma were accepted as clients even though both had high-risk credit records.

The trial continues.

With acknowledgements to Estelle Ellis and the Daily News.