Ngcuka in April 2004, Thint would not be prosecuted in connection with the arms deal, Maduna said that the approach for a meeting had come from Thint. He also said he was amazed that Thint had chosen to detail confidential and privileged discussions in its affidavit.

Maduna said he, too, had held confidential discussions with Thint's counsel, Kessie Naidu, about the encrypted fax and its author, Alain Thetard.

"The contents of the discussion … were to be strictly confidential and I have to date respected this confidentiality."

Maduna said that in his view Thetard's second statement about the encrypted fax, that it represented only Thetard's "loose" thoughts about separate issues, had been a "cynical attempt to sabotage the state's case".

Ngcuka said that Zuma's claim that he was the victim of a political conspiracy was merely a ploy to deflect atention from the seriousness of the charges he faced.

Ngcuka said that, when he was NDPP and heard the team investigating Shaik had uncovered evidence implicating the deputy president in corruption, it had come as an "unpleasant revelation".

"The decisions I was subsequently forced to make were difficult, unpleasant and taken at great personal cost to myself and my family," he said.

With acknowledgement to Cape Times.