Publication: Cape Times Issued: Date: 2008-02-25 Reporter: Karyn Maughan

Zuma's Mauritius Court Bid Rejected

 

Publication 

Cape Times
Date

2008-02-25
Reporter Karyn Maughan

Web Link

 www.capetimes.co.za

 

Conspiracy claims can't be heard in secret

Johannesburg: A Mauritian judge has refused to allow ANC President Jacob Zuma to make conspiracy claims against President Thabo Mbeki and the state in secret.

Justice Rehana Mungly-Gulbul has ruled that Mauritian Attorney-General Rama Valayden must be notified of Zuma's latest legal bid to stop the National Prosecuting Authority from obtaining 13 documents seized by the island's authorities from the offices of Thint, a French company involved in South Africa's arms deal.

Zuma's application, in which he accused Mbeki and suspended NPA boss Vusi Pikoli of conspiring against him, was brought on an ex parte basis and was therefore not served on the attorney-general or the NPA.

For this reason, Valayden's office - which has requested the disputed documents on behalf of the state - could not respond to the allegations by Zuma that the decision to bring corruption charges against him and Thint was part of a "carefully orchestrated, politically inspired and driven strategy to exclude me from any meaningful political role".

Nor could it answer Zuma's suggestions that he was being targeted by "certain individuals ... in established institutions inside and outside the ANC" because of his populist ideology and compassion for the poor *1.

Following Mungly-Gulbul's decision last week, the attorney-general's office has received a copy of Zuma's 12-page affidavit and is expected to say in court this week whether it is to oppose the ANC president's attempt to intervene in the Mauritian court proceedings. This hearing is to take place in open court.

NPA spokesperson Tlali Tlali said yesterday the state had been "interacting" with the Mauritian attorney-general's office about Zuma's application.

He declined to comment on whether the state would seek to intervene in the case, saying it was "in the attorney-general's hands".

Meanwhile, Zuma's attorney, Michael Hulley, has denied weekend media reports that Zuma asked Mauritian Prime Minister Navinchandra Ramgoolam to instruct Valayden to stop ignoring Hulley.

Hulley would not confirm or deny *3 that Zuma had met the prime minister shortly before he brought his Mauritian Supreme Court application, but denied that any such meeting involved "discussing litigation".

In documents before the Durban High Court, in which Zuma tried to stop the State from requesting the documents, his counsel, Kemp J Kemp, said: "(Zuma) intends to make representations to the Mauritian authorities concerning statements with which he takes issue, especially the averments that the prosecution is not politically motivated."

Zuma's legal team said the State's request for the documents made "no mention ... that the issue of a political motive, as a component of the investigation directed at all (Zuma's) affairs, has been central to his resistance to the manner of investigation".

Kemp also argued that, should the State be allowed to request the documents, "Zuma will be placed in an invidious position *2".

If the Mauritian authorities released the documents, Zuma would take the decision on review, he said.

The documents sought by the NPA include a diary in which the then-director of the French arms company's southern African division, Alain Thetard, noted a meeting with Zuma and Zuma's then-financial adviser, Schabir Shaik.

The State alleges that at this meeting, the three men discussed a R500 000-a-year payment for Zuma in return for protection for the company during investigations into South Africa's arms deal.

The documents were seized by Mauritius's Economic Crime Office in October 2000 and are being kept in a safe.

With acknowledgement to Karyn Maughan and Cape Times.


*1       Zuma is being targeted, not due to his populist ideology and compassion for the poor, but for many years of many instances of pre-meditated criminal conduct.

It's a court-proven fact.

That have resulted in 13 charges against him and arch-criminal Thomson-CSF.


*2      And that is why he is in such an invidious position.

Thomson-CSF moreso


*3      One can bet one's bottom dollar that Zuma met with the Mauritian Prime Minister and, whether it was direct or subliminal, the message was don't assist in this prosecution or I will make your country's position more difficult, or if I lose my case and end up in jail for fifteen years, my buddies will make your country's position more difficult.