Durban: The court-appointed curator in Schabir Shaik's asset forfeiture case has so far preserved assets valued at R28.8 million belonging to the Durban businessman - but the state wants more than that and will ask for an order against Shaik and his companies for R34.5m.

In his final report, which will be before Durban High Court Judge Hilary Squires when the hearing starts today, curator Trevor White of PriceWaterhouseCooper says he has control over 7 464 Thint shares, 250 Cellsaf shares and cash of about R558 000.

The state wants to confiscate assets which it claims were the benefits and proceeds of Shaik's "generally corrupt" relationship with former deputy president Jacob Zuma.

At the end of the criminal trial last year, Judge Squires granted an order restraining property to the value of R30m, including the shares held by Nkobi Investments in Thint, R250 000 in cash (the bribe Shaik was found to have brokered for Zuma from Thint) and a further R7.25m.

The shares held by Shaik's Nkobi Investments in the French arms firm Thint (which owns 80% of African Defence Systems) are valued at just more than R21m.

The state contends that the decision by Thint (then Thomsons) to go into business with the Nkobi group of companies was influenced by Shaik's relationship with Zuma.

The state will also argue that Zuma interceded on Shaik's behalf and persuaded Thomsons to go into partnership with him because of the corrupt relationship, and this is how Shaik and his company acquired the shares.

Shaik's lawyers, however, will argue that the contract with Thomsons had been agreed to prior to Zuma's intervention.

They will also argue that his intervention was not criminal and that, in fact, at that time he had been acting as deputy president of the ANC, not in an official capacity as MEC.

The second "benefit", the state will argue, was the R12.7m in dividends Shaik and his companies received from the shares.

Until now, the dividends were used to pay off a loan advanced for the shares and Shaik's lawyers will argue that to confiscate these would be a "double repayment".

But the state says these were separate benefits and that the fact that Shaik chose to use one to fund the other was "irrelevant".

The state is also claiming R250 000 as being the "first instalment of a bribe" destined for Zuma which had been arranged between Shaik and Thint.

The money was paid into Shaik's Kobitech account, disguised as a payment under a service provider agreement. The state will argue that this was a proceed of crime and as such should be confiscated. The hearing has been set down for three days.

With acknowledgements to Tania Broughton and the Cape Times.