Former deputy president Jacob Zuma’s attorney, Michael Hulley, said yesterday that he would file papers with the Johannesburg High Court demanding the return of documents seized by the Scorpions last month.

This follows the National Prosecuting Authority’s (NPA’s) refusal yesterday to hand over documents seized during raids on Zuma’s residences and Hulley’s office.

“The NPA is of the view that the documents seized at Mr Hulley’s premises were purely of a financial nature and could not have been affected by attorney-client privilege,” NPA spokesman Makhosini Nkosi said yesterday.

On August 18 the Scorpions searched a number of premises linked to Zuma after they obtained search warrants from Transvaal Judge-President Bernard Ngoepe.

These included Zuma’s Forest Town house in Johannesburg and his traditional homestead at Nkandla in KwaZulu-Natal.

They also raided two of Zuma’s lawyers, Julekha Mahomed and Hulley. However, Mahomed successfully brought an application to set aside the search and seizure warrants for her home and office.

Mahomed had argued that the search of documents at her home and office breached attorney-client privilege.

Following Mahomed’s success, Hulley telephoned the prosecuting authority demanding that it return all evidential material seized at his premises and those of Zuma’s.

The court ruled last Friday that the search and seizure raids by the Scorpions were illegal. It also ordered the authority to return all evidential material seized at Mahomed’s home and office.

However, the authority has lodged a notice of intention to apply for leave to appeal that decision.

The authority said that as a result of the pending appeal process, it and Mahomed’s attorneys had agreed that the material would remain with the court registrar.

Nkosi said the evidential material was seized on the strength of search warrants granted by the Pretoria High Court on August 12.

The authority said it would keep the material in terms of the relevant warrants and also in view of the pending appeal process and its possible relevance to Hulley’s matter.

“However, the NPA recognises the right of Mr Hulley, or any affected party, to challenge the warrants in court if they deem it necessary,” Nkosi said.

The setting aside of the search and seizure warrant has been seen as a blow to the Scorpions’ efforts to build a strong case against Zuma, who has been charged with two counts of corruption and is expected to appear in court next month.

Zuma was dismissed by President Thabo Mbeki as deputy president in July after he was found by the Durban High Court to have had a generally corrupt relationship with financial adviser Schabir Shaik.

Johannesburg High Court Judge Ismail Hussain was critical of the Scorpions’ method of obtaining the search and seizure warrants, and said the Scorpions’ application for a warrant from Ngoepe did not make full disclosure of the facts.

Hussain said an applicant for a warrant had to make full disclosure of all material facts to the judicial officer; anything less was unacceptable. He said the proper functioning of the justice system depended on confidential communication between lawyers and their clients.

With acknowledgements to Ernest Mabuza and the Business Day.