Durban - Fraud and corruption accused Schabir Shaik will likely welcome the start of a three-week adjournment in his trial tomorrow after an outburst in the Durban High Court on Friday that illustrated the toll the case is taking on him.

Shaik, who has pleaded not guilty to two counts of corruption and one of fraud, verbally attacked deputy state prosecutor Anton Steynberg before court resumed on Friday, prompting the prosecution to apply for a change in his bail conditions.

"I'm not scared of you. I'll sort you out after the trial. You're a racist; get that into your thick skull. You will be running from me like (former National Director of Public Prosecutions) Bulelani (Ngcuka)," Shaik shouted at Steynberg.

Prosecutor Billy Downer said Shaik's behaviour was "unacceptable" and called on Judge Hillary Squires to alter his bail conditions to prohibit him from screaming at or insulting the prosecution team.

Defence counsel Francois van Zyl described the incident as "unfortunate", saying his client was upset because investigators had contacted employees of Shaik's company, Nkobi Holdings.

Squires said it was not the time to deal with the issue, telling Downer that if the state wanted to take the matter further, it should lodge a formal application.

However, it is believed Shaik has already apologised to Steynberg and Van Zyl will formally put the apology on record this morning.

This is not the first time Shaik has had a tiff with officials involved in his case. Last year a white court policeman laid a crimen injuria charge against Shaik after an alleged racist verbal attack outside the high court building.

Several times during the trial, the court has adjourned early, because Shaik has complained he suffered from a stress-related illness.

On Friday the court also heard testimony from Thomson-CSF (now Thales) director Pierre Moynot that showed the French arms company had not doubted Shaik's black economic empowerment credentials.

Earlier testimony heard the company had wavered on adopting Nkobi as its empowerment partner after rumours that Shaik did not enjoy the backing of former president Nelson Mandela and President Thabo Mbeki.

The state alleges Shaik used his generally corrupt relationship with Deputy President Jacob Zuma to pressure Zuma into securing Nkobi the partnership with Thomson-CSF.

Zuma was KwaZulu-Natal economic affairs and tourism MEC at the time.

Moynot confirmed the high regard in which the French company holds political connections.

He said that defence contracts were, of their nature, highly political — and as such Thomson-CSF believed that having access to "the corridors of power gave them the edge over their competitors".

"The decision is always made by politicians," he said.

With acknowledgements to Nicola Jenvey and the Business Day.