Judge Hillary Squires will deliver judgment in the Schabir Shaik fraud and corruption trial at 2.15pm on Tuesday afternoon *1.

Squires' secretary Margaret Parker said judgment would possibly continue until lunchtime on Wednesday.

Independent television channel e-tv had won the right to broadcast the proceedings live and would have two cameras inside courtroom A.

The trial of Shaik, a well-known Durban businessman started in October last year and ended on May 4.

The first count of corruption against him relates to what the state said was a "generally corrupt" relationship between him and deputy president Jacob Zuma.

According to the state, Shaik repeatedly bankrolled Zuma to the tune of at least R1.2 million in exchange for using Zuma's influence to his business advantage.

Shaik said the friendship between him and Zuma dated back to the struggle and that he was only helping out an old friend who found himself in financial difficulty.

The corruption charge relates to the irregular write-off of loan accounts in the books of his Nkobi group of companies described as "creative accounting by the state. Shaik said he had little knowledge of accounting and left it in the hands of his financial team.

In the second count of corruption, the state alleged that Shaik solicited a bribe of R500 000 per annum for Zuma from French arms company Thomson-CSF. This was in exchange for protection from investigations into arms deal irregularities.

Through a joint venture both Thomson and Nkobi had secured a slice of the arms deal. Shaik has always maintained that he asked the French for a donation for Zuma's RDP Education Trust Fund.

With ackowledgement to Sapa.

*1 14:15 CAT on 2005-05-31.

*2 The judgment will probably commence on Tuesday and the verdict be given on Wednesday.