Schabir Shaik nears 100 days of freedom [Cape Argus, 2009-06-07]

Publication: Cape Argus Issued: Date: 2009-06-07 Reporter: Noelene Barbeau

Schabir Shaik nears 100 days of freedom

Publication	Cape Argus
Date	2009-06-07
Reporter	Noelene Barbeau
Web Link	www.capeargus.co.za

Thursday will mark 100 days *1 since terminally ill, convicted fraudster Schabir Shaik was paroled.

There is still no sighting of or communication from the elusive former prisoner despite several efforts to become his Facebook friend.

I sent through my Facebook friend request hoping for an acknowledgement. There are at least six people who say they are Schabir Shaik.

So not to hurt anyone's feelings, I asked all six to be my friend - but sadly I haven't had a reply from anyone.

In June 2005, Shaik was sentenced to 15 years on two counts of corruption and one of fraud, which, among other things, related to an alleged bribe *1 he negotiated between then deputy president Jacob Zuma and French arms company Thint.

Sunday is day 96 since Shaik's release from prison - or in his case hospital. We look at how these days have unfolded.

In March, the Westville Correctional Supervision and Parole Board ruled that Shaik's medical condition was gravely serious and he was released on parole. Shaik served only two years and four months of his sentence.

Opposition political parties were furious. They said the purpose of medical parole was to release terminally ill offenders so that they could die a dignified death with friends and family present.

On the day of his release - March 3 - the media camped outside his house. The Shaik brothers, Mo and Yunis, issued a statement asking for space to take care of him.

Since then, media have been trying to speak to Shaik, but have been turned away.

Later in March, newspapers tracked down a woman who alleged that she nursed Shaik during his stay at Inkosi Albert Luthuli Hospital.

Speaking anonymously, she admitted to initially thinking Shaik was faking his illness until she saw him and was at his bedside for the last three months of his stay in hospital.

On March 13, newspapers reported that Shaik apparently tried to buy a R10-million home in Morningside, a week before he was released from prison.

Shaik apparently made a verbal offer for the five-bedroom, two-storey mansion a few streets away from his own home in Morningside.

In April, the Health Professions Council of South Africa issued a report on the investigation into the conduct of the doctors that led to Shaik's release on medical parole.

This report cleared his doctors of any unethical conduct.

Weeks prior to this decision, a medical report was leaked to the media.

It was sent to the head of Westville Medium B Prison by the head of the cardiology at the University of KwaZulu-Natal medical school, Professor D P Naidoo, and principal specialist Dr Sajidah Khan.

The report recommended medical parole because Shaik had a lengthy stay under specialist care without effect and because the hospital could not keep him indefinitely, and prison authorities were reluctant to monitor him at the prison hospital. The report apparently did not mention that Shaik was in the final phase of a terminal illness . *3

In May, the Tribune learnt that Shaik was still too ill to leave his home, but enjoyed eating his favourite pasta dishes brought to him by Spiga d'Oro owner and close friend Sergio Santoniccolo.

Rejecting attempts to contact Shaik, his family want to be left alone.

The medical clock is still ticking and as he approaches his 100th day since his release the question on the lips of many is: how terminally ill is the former financial adviser to Zuma?

noelene.barbeau@inl.co.za

With acknowledgements to Noelene Barbeau and Cape Argus.

*1       100 days on 12th June means it's now around 116 days - as close as dammit to 4 months.

Typically, a terminal illness is over in 3 months.

In this case there never was a terminal illness.

Either the patient used to fail to take his hypertension medicine, and/or used to hold his breath before blood pressure measurements were taken or the electronic recording and analysis used in this case to actually determine this condition were simply manipulated.

Any which way, it's criminal and it's fraud.

*2       This is no "alleged bribe" it's the real thing.

The court found that this criminal facilitated a bribe from a French company to Jacob Zuma.

The court found that some of the money actually was paid by the French company and reached Zuma via a system of money laundering.

These are the facts.

Nothing can change them except another court case against the French company and Zuma, both of which have done everything to avoid such a reality.

My mission is to turn possibility into reality.

*3      The report did not mention that Shaik was in the final phase of a terminal illness because Shaik was not in the final phase of a terminal illness.

It makes sense.

What makes sense?

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