Publication: The Star Issued: Date: 2006-12-13 Reporter: Tania Broughton

Date Decided for State's Request on Zuma Papers

 

Publication 

The Star
Date

2006-12-13

Reporter

 Tania Broughton

Web Link

www.thestar.co.za

 

The court application by the state for a letter of request to the Mauritian attorney-general for the return of crucial original documents will be heard in March.

The documents are needed for the prosecution on corruption charges of former deputy president Jacob Zuma and French arms company Thint.

This was the outcome of a brief hearing in the chambers of KwaZulu Natal Deputy Judge President Phillip Levinsohn yesterday.

Advocates for all the parties agreed on dates for filing further papers and for the hearing, in the Pietermaritzburg High Court, on March 22 and 23 next year.

The documents the state seeks include the diary of Alain Thetard, Thint's former local chief executive, which allegedly indicates a meeting between himself and Zuma, |as well as Zuma's ex-financial adviser, Schabir Shaik, in March 2000.

It was at this meeting, the state will allege, that the R500 000-a-year bribe by Thint |to Zuma was brokered. This, and other documents, are being held under injunction in Mauritius.

If the state is successful in the application, it is likely that it will be only the first hurdle it has to overcome, because lawyers for Thint and Zuma have already indicated they will fight the issue again in Mauritius.

With acknowledgements to Tania Broughton and The Star.