Publication: Sapa Issued: Pietermaritzburg Date: 2007-03-23 Reporter: Sapa

Zuma, Thint Await Decision on Mauritian Letter

 

Publication 

Sapa
BC-COURT-LD-ZUMA

Issued

 Pietermaritzburg
Date

2007-03-23

Reporter

Sapa

 

Jacob Zuma and the French arms manufacturer Thint are now waiting for Judge Phillip Levensohn to decide whether to sign a letter asking Mauritius to release documents about Zuma's role in the arms deal.

The documents include the 2000 diary of Alain Thetard, former chief executive of Thales International's South African subsidiary Thint (Pty) Ltd.

Proceedings at the Pietermaritzburg High Court wrapped up on Friday afternoon shortly after lunch, but not before Zuma's advocate Kemp J. Kemp and Thint's advocate had claimed that there were irregularities in the way the copies of the documents were obtained.

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) is now seeking the originals.

Kemp also complained that the NPA had initially sought to obtain the documents without using the International Co-operation in Criminal Matters Act (ICCM Act) and that it was "wrong now" to use the act to secure the documents.

He said if the act was not used then the authorities should use established practice.

Thint's advocate Nirmal Singh said: "There is concern about how the documents (copies) were obtained."

He questioned whether Levensohn could issue a letter of request "in regard to information that was obtained unlawfully".

Kemp earlier told the court that the State would only need documents held in Mauritius if the NPA decided to prosecute Zuma.

Kemp said: "It is not necessary for them to have these documents at this time."

Kemp pointed out that the State had said at Zuma's abortive corruption trial last year that "they could proceed without them. They don't it need it for investigation and information".

Thint chief executive Pierre Moynot was in court on Friday, but Zuma did not attend.

Kemp told Levensohn that any letter issued by the court was "academic" until the Mauritian authorities had persuaded the Mauritian high court to lift a 2001 injunction brought by Thales International, the parent company of Thint.

Prosecutor Billy Downer countered saying that Mauritian prosecutors had told South African prosecutors that no move to have the injunction lifted would be made without a request from the South Africans.

Kemp disputed the relevance of Thetard's diary, saying that it was used to note upcoming documents and not past events.

Levensohn then responded: "I think it is important for you to have that diary, the original (to prove that point)." *1

Downer pointed out in his rebuttal that the original diary was also wanted for handwriting analysis.

Kemp also argued that testimony from several sources had not revealed that copies of the documents were made.

"There is something wrong here. Why do all these people have collective amnesia of copies being made?"

Singh argued that there was no established practice with regard to dealings between law enforcement agencies in Mauritius and South Africa.

He said that the NPA had erred when it made its initial request for the documents in 2001 by not using the ICCM Act. He said the act had to be used in the absence of a treaty between the two countries.

In his rebuttal, Downer asked: "Does that mean that all other requests (to foreign law enforcement agencies) prior to 1998 (when the ICCM Act was passed) were illegal? I think not, my lord."

It is not known when Levensohn will announce his decision, but it is expected to be before the end of March.

With acknowledgement to Sapa.


*1       'nuf said, M'Lord.