An executive from French arms company Thomson has told the Durban High Court that the company was well aware that Deputy President Jacob Zuma was Schabir Shaik’s friend.

Pierre Moynot continued his evidence this morning after he was called as a defence witness by Shaik last week. He told the court that Thomson had its sights set on African Defence Systems, as early as 1995.

ADS was eventually chosen as one of the preferred sub-contractors in South Africa’s multi-billion rands arms deal. By then, Thomson had acquired the majority shareholding in ADS.

Moynot told the court that Thomson had heard from former president Nelson Mandela’s tailor Yusuf Surtee that Shaik’s Nkobi company was not a suitable black economic empowerment partner to join them in the acquisition of ADS.

Nkobi was first excluded from the deal but later, after Thomson had spoken to Zuma, Nkobi was brought back into the fold.

Moynot, however, told the court that he had no direct knowledge of exactly how this happened.

Shaik has pleaded not guilty to charges of corruption and fraud.

More defence witnesses expected to testify are Zuma’s state legal adviser, Linda Makhathini, and another forensic auditor Greg Johnson. Makhathini’s evidence is expected to deal with a revolving credit agreement drawn up between Shaik and Zuma.

Shaik said it was done in 1999. The State is disputing the authenticity of the document and specifically the date of the document.

During the trial, Shaik has admitted to backdating a number of letters and documents before the court. He claims this was only done for logistical reasons and to speed up payment from Thomson.

But the State says the backdating is decidedly sinister as it had to do with a service provider agreement that the prosecution claims was a cover for the payment of the bribe for Zuma.

With acknowledgements to Estelle Ellis and the Daily News.