Lawyers for Jacob Zuma and Thint have already had access to a forensic report prepared ahead of his corruption trial and based on documents they are claiming were seized without valid warrants, the Constitutional Court heard on Wednesday.

Said state advocate Wim Trengove: "The state has already used documents in preparation for a new forensic report.

"The report and the documents have already been given to the applicants *1 and the state doesn't intend using the other documents.

"They have had access to everything else. If access can be improved in any way, we will be very happy to oblige."

Zuma and Thint are trying to overturn a Supreme Court of Appeal decision that the documents may be used in Zuma's forthcoming August 4 trial.

They were seized in a series of raids at 6.30am on August 18 2005 after Zuma's financial adviser Schabir Shaik was convicted of corruption for facilitating a R500 000 a year bribe for Zuma to protect arms deal interests.

Earlier the court heard that the searches were a continuation of the investigation originally done for the purposes of Shaik's trial.

"We are sure that we have a case, not merely a prima facie case, but a case with a reasonable prospect of conviction," Trengove said, with Zuma sitting behind him in the front row of the public gallery.

He said the difference between interpretations of the search warrants used in the searches, by the state on the one hand and Zuma, Thint and Zuma's lawyer Michael Hulley on the other, was "extremely narrow."

Thint has argued that the warrants issued by Transvaal Judge President Bernard Ngoepe were authorized without a case being made to Ngoepe and they were served without an affidavit providing details of what exactly was being looked for.

With acknowledgements to Sapa.

• Bianca Singh.