Johannesburg - Chippy Shaik has for four years laid claim to a bogus doctorate that he and a cabal of internationally acclaimed South African professors fraudulently concocted, the Sunday Times reported.

An extensive investigation by the newspaper found that Shaik's 2003 PhD in mechanical engineering from the then University of Natal (UKZN) was plagiarised. More than two-thirds was regurgitated from journal papers of other authors without citation or acknowledgement.

This expose comes on the eve of a petition by his convicted fraudster brother, Schabir, to the Constitutional Court to get out of jail early.

Chippy now risks his doctorate being revoked, while the academics who supervised his thesis - Professor Viktor Verijenko, head of the school of mechanical engineering at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, and his colleague, Professor Sarp Adali - face being fired.

In a confidential communique sent to the university senate on Friday, acting vice-chancellor Professor Isobel Konyn said she regretted that the integrity of a UKZN degree had again been called into question.

"This was brought to our attention by an outside agency. The university has conducted its own investigations and the allegations have foundation. An investigation of the matter has been instituted within the university and senators will be kept informed."

Responding on behalf of Chippy Shaik, his brother Yunus Shaik described the plagiarism claim as "wild", "fanciful" and an attempt to malign the Shaik brothers on the eve of the Concourt case.

UKZN vice-chancellor and principal Professor Malegapuru Mokgaba said he was "outraged" and that the matter would be cleared up to protect the reputation of the university's many committed academics.

Verijenko said only those who worked on Shaik's thesis were able to assess its quality and authenticity.

With acknowledgement to Sapa and News24.