The legal wrangling between the state and French arms company Thint will move up a gear today when the company’s lawyers seek to rebut affidavits filed by the state last week.

It is understood the rebuttal will contest claims by former National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) boss Bulelani Ngcuka that Thint (then known as Thomson-CSF) approached the NPA with an offer to co-operate in the fraud and corruption prosecution of Durban businessman Schabir Shaik, in return for charges being dropped against the company.

According to Thint’s version of events, a London-based businessman, whose name is known to Business Day, approached Thint’s executives on behalf of the state to broker a deal that would facilitate the prosecution of Shaik.

The deal he proposed required Thomson-CSF executive Alain Thetard to acknowledge his authorship of the “encrypted fax”, which purported to be a bribe agreement between the company and then-deputy president Jacob Zuma. The fax was key to convicting Shaik, Zuma’s former financial adviser. In the state’s submission, Ngcuka and former justice minister Penuell Maduna disputed this version.

They said they were “approached by a person purportedly acting as an intermediary for (Thomson-CSF)” while on an official trip to London.

It is not yet clear whether the “intermediary” to whom Maduna and Ngcuka referred is the same businessman Thint alleges acted for the state.

The company’s lawyers would not be drawn on the contents of the affidavit but confirmed that it would be filed today in the Pietermaritzburg High Court.

As the legal battle continues, the political undertones of what will unfold next month have become clearer.

A senior source in Zuma’s circle said they read it as a ploy to focus political heat on Zuma, whose main weapon against the state to date has been political.

With acknowledgements to Karima Brown, Vukani Mde and the Business Day.