Schabir Shaik. Shaik was released from prison in March 2008 on medical
parole.
President advised to have nothing to do with
former backer
The close relationship between President Jacob Zuma and his former
financial adviser, Schabir Shaik, is over.
The two have not seen or spoken to one other since Zuma's inauguration as
president on May 9 2009.
Before that, Zuma had publicly supported the convicted fraudster, even
visiting him four times while he was in prison.
A senior Zuma aide told the Sunday Times this week: "That
was then; this is now."
Shaik spent two years and four months in Westville Prison and in various
Durban hospitals before his controversial parole on March 3 2009 owing to a
"terminal illness".
He was convicted on two counts of corruption and one count of fraud relating
to his relationship with Zuma.
A Sunday Times investigation has established that:
- Zuma last spoke to Shaik before the 2009 election;
- Shaik had expected to be pardoned two years ago after Zuma had become president, but nothing happened;
- Shaik has tried contacting Zuma numerous times since May 9 2009, but to no avail;
- Top ANC leaders have strongly advised Zuma to have nothing to do with Shaik; and
- The president's financial adviser has become increasingly bitter at being abandoned by his former comrade-in-arms, and has complained to senior ANC leaders about being left out in the cold. He now leads a solitary life with little contact from ANC members.
Yesterday, Zuma's
spokesman, Zizi Kodwa, said there was no relationship at all between the
two. Asked to elaborate, he said: "The answer I have given is sufficient."
The president's lawyer, Michael Hulley, rejected "with contempt" claims that
Zuma had promised to pardon Shaik.
As to allegations that Zuma had abandoned Shaik, Hulley said: "Because of
the demands of the presidency, in particular, and government, in general,
many of the president's personal relationships have suffered. The
president's schedule simply does not permit him to call on friends and
acquaintances, much as he may like to do so, and in Shaik's case, the
president has done so as and when his schedule permits."
He said that before Zuma became president, Shaik had rendered support and
assistance to him and "the Zuma family, in general, in the conduct of the
president's financial affairs".
"As part of this assistance, Shaik made payments for and on behalf of the
president in respect of various agreed expenses. At all times, the president
understood Shaik to have willingly offered his services, which were
graciously accepted in the context of the relationship which existed between
the Shaik and Zuma families."
The Sunday Times has established that Shaik now wants nothing more than his
pardon - after which he wishes to move overseas,
away from the incessant scrutiny of the media and the public.
Yesterday, Shaik declined to comment.
The fraudster is estranged from his wife, Zulheikha, and gets to see his
young son, Yasir, several hours a week.
He has been described by associates as
frustrated, angry and depressed.
This, they say, contributed to him losing his notorious temper and allegedly
attacking a journalist and a fellow worshipper at a Durban mosque in two
separate incidents in recent weeks.
His relationship with his brothers is also said to be strained.
Shaik ran almost every aspect of Zuma's
financial affairs for almost a decade, bankrolling him and his family.
In April 2008, about six months after being jailed, Shaik applied
unsuccessfully to then president Thabo Mbeki for a pardon.
In December 2009, Zuma's office issued a statement saying the president was
"considering a number of applications and Shaik's is among them".
It insisted Shaik's "application is not enjoying any special consideration".
Nothing came of the application.
News of the collapse of Shaik's relationship with Zuma follows a dramatic
week in which the former businessman was arrested early on Monday and
investigated for allegedly violating his parole conditions.
This after the Sunday Times reported how he had allegedly punched and
assaulted Mohamed Ismail outside the Masjid al Hilal mosque in Overport,
Durban, on Friday last week.
Ismail left the mosque after doctors had called him to attend to his ill
five-year-old daughter.
The altercation was apparently sparked because Shaik's vehicle allegedly
blocked Ismail's exit.
Two hours after the incident, Ismail said that
he and his wife had decided not to lay charges.
Shaik declined to comment on the incident. He was later quoted in a
Durban newspaper as asking for a meeting to be arranged so that he and
Ismail could "pray in peace and not as enemies".
On Tuesday, prison officials visited the offices of the Sunday Times in
Durban and requested contact details for Ismail.
The Sunday Times contacted Ismail, but he rejected the request.
Ismail, who has avoided all calls since Shaik's
arrest, said he wanted to be left alone.
On Wednesday, KwaZulu-Natal correctional services spokes-man Hlaziya Mtolo
said investigators could not find proof that Shaik had violated his parole,
so the former businessman was released.
Related Articles
- Shaik put into jail hospital
- EXCLUSIVE: Shaik in mosque assault
- They're taking me to prison: Shaik
- Shaik to face parole board over 'assault'
- Sanef wants alleged Shaik assault probed
- DA wants Shaik probe
With acknowledgements to Sunday Times.
Shaik paid Zuma around
R4,2 million in circa 2006 Rands.
Shaik's return on investment was in the order of magnitude of 100 to 1 for
himself, his brothers, his other benefactors and beneficiaries plus chief
criminal of all Thomson-CSF; this in respect of the Arms Deal alone.
This would have been several orders of magnitude higher than certain members
of the body civic nipped these plans post-bud and pre-fruit (except perhaps
the low hanging fruit).
But Shaik also has a few more fiscal irons in the fire thanks to fellow
bumiputerians like Mac Maharaj. This allows him to carry on earning several
millions of Rands per year.
Other than the drivers licence and toll road scams, all the Shaik brothers
got nice dollops of Cell C shares.
If there were enough corruption investigators to go round (and they are
deliberately too few by a factor of 100) the whole Cell C deal and share
allocation scheme should be investigated.
Cell C, as well as other cellular service provision, is a legalised way of
printing money ad infinitum.
But Zuma has abandoned Shaik for three reasons :
- Shaik is a severe embarrassment
- Shaik is a severe liability
- Shaik's largesse is chicken noodles in comparison with that of the Guptas and their ilk
In the meantime one hopes that the others in this grandest of rip-offs of
public funds that the country has ever seen (that's until re-electrification
get truly agoing) get their days in court.
And none more than :
Pierre Jean-Marie Robert
Moynot
and
Alain Peter Thetard
on behalf of
Thomson-CSF
At least the leader of the
axis of weasil is now testing its weapons in action for the first time since
Waterloo.
Bravo.