NPA visits offices of accountants with links to Schabir Shaik and requests special commission in France to obtain further details from Thales/Thint

The Scorpions have raided an accountant's firm linked to Jacob Zuma's friend Schabir Shaik, giving the strongest indication yet that the ANC deputy president might well be charged again.

The raid took place within an hour of Judge Herbert Q Msimang's findings on Wednesday in the Pietermaritzburg high court that he had "no choice" but to strike the state's case against Zuma and arms manufacturer Thint off the court roll.

In another development, The Sunday Independent has learnt that attorneys representing Thint, the local arm of the giant French arms manufacturer Thales, were "shocked" to discover on Thursday that the Scorpions had recently made a request to the French justice ministry for "mutual legal assistance" - the establishment in Paris of a special tribunal, known as a "commission rogatoire", so that more questions could be put to Thint/Thales.

At a press conference, held on Friday, Zuma repeatedly answered questions about the possibility that he might be re-charged by saying that it was not his concern and that he refused to spend his time justifying himself.

"All I know," said Zuma, "is that I went to court on July 31 to answer the charges against me. The state was not ready then and was not ready on Wednesday, and the judge threw the state's case out. What else is there to say?"

Msimang struck the case against the former deputy president and the French arms dealer off the roll after castigating the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) for inadequately preparing its case and for using "illegal" documents in its main forensic report.

The NPA immediately issued a statement saying that Vusi Pikoli, the national director of public prosecutions (NDPP), would study the judgment over the next few days.

In addition, Makhosini Nkosi, the NPA spokesperson, indicated that Pikoli and his investigators would clarify in due course whether the NPA would re-charge Zuma and Thint, which it is entitled to do in terms of the law.

By midday on Wednesday, Johan du Plooy and Izak du Plooy, two senior special investigators in the NPA's directorate of special operations (DSO, the Scorpions), who had been present in court earlier for the judgment, had arrived at the Umhlanga office of David Strachan and Tayler (DST), a financial services company.

DST had previously done work for Schabir Shaik, the Durban businessman who was sentenced to 15 years' jail for fraud and corruption last year and whose appeal starts at the supreme court of appeal (SCA) tomorrow. The company's name came up during his trial and is cited in the defence heads of argument entered into the SCA for tomorrow's appeal.

Paul Gering of DST confirmed that the investigators had seized documents from him on Wednesday relating to certain legal fees incurred by Zuma, which were allegedly paid by Shaik.

The application for a "commission rogatoire" in France would have required an application to a magistrate and the involvement of the department of foreign affairs, the South African embassy in France, the French ministry of foreign affairs and the French ministry of justice.

It is understood that the NPA wants to be able to put further questions to Thales about the role of Alain Thetard, the then chief of Thint in South Africa, about the notorious encrypted fax and Thetard's relationship with Zuma.

The state has alleged - and its allegation was accepted by the court in the Shaik trial - that the fax, written by Thetard, contained details of a R250 000 a year bribe for Zuma, facilitated by Shaik, in return for Zuma's protection from the government's arms deal investigation.

One of the main issues that Shaik's defence team will raise tomorrow in the SCA is that the Durban high court "erred" in accepting the admissibility of the fax as evidence and that it also misconstrued its meaning.

"What's strange," said one legal observer, "is that on Wednesday the state said it was not ready to continue in the trial. But they went on - on the very same day."

The NPA's Nkosi said on Friday that he was not at liberty to make any comment about matters related to an NPA investigation.

Nkosi said he also could not comment on whether senior NPA prosecutors and investigators had already been summoned to a meeting in Pretoria about whether Zuma and Thint should be re-charged, other than to say that, as far as he knew, the NDPP had not yet had the opportunity to study Msimang's judgment.

In his judgment, Msimang said in a passing comment that he wanted to mention a matter that he and his assessors regarded as a "material inaccuracy" - which is generally judicial-speak for an "untruth" - that had appeared in the state's papers.

"The state's founding affidavit," said Msimang, "was deposed to by Johan du Plooy … a senior special investigator employed at the DOS.

[He said that] the decision to refer all the documentation to the forensic accountants on May 23 was taken with the agreements reached in principle with the legal representatives of Julekha Mohamed [formerly an attorney for Zuma] and Zuma.

"The statement was repeated by their counsel [Wim] Trengove during argument. However, after counsel for the accused had indicated that no such agreements had been concluded, I broached this subject again with [Billy] Downer during his replying argument.

"It now seemed that the version was that the decision was taken in anticipation of an agreement, but that no agreement, either in principle or otherwise,was concluded.

"No explanation was given for this inaccuracy which, in our judgment, is one that could have influenced our decision - directing it in the favour of the state."

With acknowledgement to Jeremy Gordin and Sunday Independent.