Former justice minister Penuell Maduna's meeting with lawyers for French arms company Thint has come back to haunt him.

And lawyers for Thint, which is accused of bribing former deputy president Jacob Zuma in exchange for his political protection, have challenged Maduna to reveal why he became involved in the April 4, 2004 meeting - which they claim led the state to withdraw corruption charges against the arms company.

"No explanation is provided by Maduna for his involvement in a matter that does not relate to the affairs of his office as minister," Thint's lawyers say in heads of argument before the Pietermaritzburg High Court.

Judge Herbert Msimang will next week hear argument from the state and the defence teams for Zuma and Thint, who are fighting to have the corruption case against them permanently withdrawn.

And Thint's claim that the case against it has been unfairly prosecuted rests largely on the state's alleged promises at the Maduna meeting.

Stressing that he regarded the meeting as a "privileged discussion", Maduna has slammed Thint's lawyers for breaching the confidentiality he attached to the gathering and presenting an "incomplete and unbalanced version of events" to the court.

Maduna has also stressed that although he "exercised political oversight" over the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), he "did not have the authority to intervene in their prosecution decisions or policies".

Affidavits provided by Thint's lawyers, however, suggest that Maduna played an active role in the discussions, which were held at his home and also attended by then NPA head Bulelani Ngcuka.

Maduna said Ngcuka had initially been unwilling to consider withdrawing the charges against Thint because "they had not been willing to assist us previously with the simple matter of getting an affidavit from (Alain Thetard)".

Thetard was the author of the infamous "encrypted fax" that KwaZulu-Natal High Court Judge Hilary Squires found was major proof of Schabir Shaik's "generally corrupt relationship" with Zuma.

Maduna claimed that Ngcuka had agreed to consider withdrawing the charges against Thint if Thint provided the state with an affidavit from Thetard confirming that he was the author of the fax.

"Certainly no undertaking was given at this meeting to withdraw charges and no agreement to this effect was reached," Maduna said.

But Thint managing director Pierre Jean Marie Robert Moynot, who was at the meeting, tells a different story.

According to Moynot, Maduna told the gathering that the state was not interested in prosecuting Thint or, for that matter, Thetard, but that the state's focus was on prosecuting Shaik.

Moynot claimed Maduna had said he was prepared to withdraw the charges and the warrants of arrest in relation to Thetard.

Ngcuka agreed with Maduna and said he would withdraw charges against Thetard and Thint if Thetard provided an affidavit in which he confirmed that he was the author of the fax.

"Although I was advised that the agreement with Ngcuka did not have the effect of an indemnity against prosecution," Moynot said, "I was confident that Thint would never be reindicted because of Maduna's assurances."

The state was expected to file its heads of argument on Thursday.

With acknowledgements to Karyn Maughan and The Star.