PRETORIA: ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma will apply in the high court here tomorrow to stop the National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) extending an investigation to the United Kingdom.

At the end of March, the NDPP brought an ex-parte application for permission to approach banks and solicitors in the UK with a view to the possible reinstating of fraud and corruption charges against Zuma.

Zuma only became aware of the application after Justice Ben du Plessis ratified a letter of request for international assistance from Leonard McCarthy, of the NDPP.

The application was placed on the roll to be heard tomorrow. Zuma said in his affidavit he was never informed about the application and only learnt about it when a journalist approached him.

McCarthy wants the assistance of the manager of Barclays Bank in London, where the account of solicitors Berwin Leighton Paisner is held.

He also wants to approach the solicitors about details of a payment made in August 2001 from their bank account to an entity in South Africa named Cay Nominees Ltd.

"There are some indications that the payment may, in fact, be linked to Thomson/Thales - Thint - and their undertaking to pay Zuma R500 000 per annum as a bribe," McCarthy said in his letter.

"If so, it appears that Berwin Leighton Paisner's account was used to launder the payment of money from Thomson/Thales to Zuma," he said. - Sapa

With acknowledgements to Sapa and Cape Times