Businessman Schabir Shaik's defence counsel began his final arguments in Shaik's fraud and corruption trial in the Durban High Court on Friday.

Dealing with Shaik's credibility as a witness, which had been attacked by the state, Francois van Zyl, SC, said: "Zuma was a long, long-standing friend, that differentiates this from other cases."

He was referring to count one of general corruption against Shaik, in which the state alleged he had made payments to Deputy President Jacob Zuma in return for using Zuma's name to further his business interests.

Van Zyl called on the court to consider the number of years that had passed since the various incidents which made up the case had occurred.

He also asked the court to consider the number of facts involved, pointing out that refreshing one's memory from documents and reconstructing events meant it was "virtually unavoidable" that there would be contradictions when giving testimony *1.

"The court should consider how material the various aspects were," said Van Zyl.

Shaik also faces a charge of fraud for the alleged irregular write-off of money from his company books. A third charge, also of corruption, deals with an alleged bribe sought for Zuma from French arms manufacturer Thomson CSF.

The state concluded its final arguments on Thursday.

With ackowledgements to Sapa.

*1 Them justifications for blatant fabrications.