'Search application flawed'

Jacob Zuma made a surprise appearance at the Supreme Court of Appeal this morning, in an apparent show of support for the French arms company once accused of trying to bribe him.

Three minutes before five of the Bloemfontein court's judges were due to start hearing arms company Thint's challenge to the warrants used to raid its premises in August 2005, Zuma arrived in the half-empty court room.

Zuma shook hands with Thint CEO Pierre Moynot - with whom he shared the dock during the State's aborted bid to prosecute the two for fraud and corruption - before giving him a thumbs- up sign.

Beaming back at Zuma, Moynot made the same gesture.

Their apparent optimism, however, stood in sharp contrast to the Zuma camp's subdued spirits after the roasting they endured yesterday by the same five judges who are hearing Thint's appeal today.

Previously, Zuma's former financial adviser Schabir Shaik was convicted of soliciting a R500 000 bribe for the then-deputy president from Thint in exchange for his protection against the arms deal enquiry.

This morning, the counsel for Thint, Peter Hodes SC, began his at-tack on the warrants used to search Thint's offices by accusing the State of failing to give Johannesburg Judge President Bernard Ngoepe all the information required for the granting of the warrants.

Had Scorpions investigator Johan du Plooy told Judge Ngoepe that Thint had previously given the State its "full co-operation" during its 2001 investigation of Shaik, he might well have decided not to issue the warrants, Hodes said.

According to Hodes, Thint had handed over documents and allowed "electronic mirror-image copies" of its computers to be made.

Further, Hodes argued, Du Plooy should have known and communicated to Judge Ngoepe that there was likely to be "privileged material" on the Thint premises, so that the judge could have included certain safeguards in the warrant.

Judges Robert Nugent, Ian Farlam and Tom Cloete began to pepper Hodes with questions about his arguments, but he appeared unwilling to become a victim of the same grilling that befell Zuma's counsel yesterday.

At one stage, after Hodes began to talk over one of the multiple questions asked by Judge Nugent, the visibly irritated judge told him to "at least allow me to complete my question".

A few minutes later, to bemused looks from the court, Hodes retorted that he did not like Judge Nugent's use of the word "searchee" to describe people who were searched by the authorities.

The hearing continues.

With acknowledgement to Cape Argus.