A London businessman this morning told the trial of Durban businessman Schabir Shaik that even though he did not know at first who Jacob Zuma was, he was quickly made aware of Shaik's dealings with the deputy president.

John Dover was the first overseas witness called by the State in Shaik's trial.

Dover told the court that his company, Symbol Technologies, invented the hand held laser scanner. He came to South Africa in 1997 to work as a general manager for Symbol South Africa.

In the beginning of 1999, when South African drivers started converting their licences to the credit card format, Symbol developed a reader for the card that it hoped to sell to the police.

As a result the company met with Prodiba, which was making the cards, and arranged a marketing meeting in May 1999.

Dover said the initial plans were that Nkobi Holdings would buy into Symbol SA. According to a letter handed to court, Shaik was "most anxious that this be completed in the shortest possible time frame".

Dover said in the first or subsequent meetings that he had with Shaik, he became aware of Shaik's links with Zuma. "I didn't know who Zuma was, but I found out later. I think Shaik was his adviser."

With acknowledgements to Estelle Ellis and the Daily News.