2005-11-06,+Zuma+-+did+Scorpion+raids+fail,+Saturday+Star

Number of extra charges produced by raids on homes and lawyers' offices: 0
Saturday Star, Johannesburg, Front Page, November 5, 2005 By Jeremy Gordin

So what was the point of the Scorpions' highly publicised raids on Jacob Zuma? That was the question hanging in the air yesterday as the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) finally produced its indictment against him.

Because, despite all the huffing and puffing, including raids on Zuma's homes and attorneys' offices - which sparked one of the most bitter divides in the ANC for years - the NPA hasn't come up with any new charges against him.

The provisional indictment against the former deputy president, produced yesterday, is virtually a mirror image of one brought against Durban businessman Schabir Shaik. Zuma is charged with:


 * Corruption - allegedly benefiting from a "generally corrupt relationship"with Shaik;


 * Corruption - allegedly accepting the offer of a R500 000-a-year bribe, for two years, from the giant French arms and electronics company Thales.

Two local subsidiaries of Thales were also charged yesterday on two counts of corruption.

It had been widely speculated that, following the raids, the Scorpions would bring extra charges against Zuma - ones not canvassed during the Shaik trial. It was also believed that the Scorpions would bring charges related to tax evasion against Zuma.

This has not happened.

Yesterday, after a 48-hour delay and attempts to keep the indictment away from the media, the charges against Zuma were finally delivered to various defence teams.

Included with the indictment is a Summary of Essential Facts, as was the case with Shaik's indictment, and the witness list appears to be a carbon copy of that appended to Shaik's indictment.

Accused No 1 in the trial, set down for July 31 in the Durban High court, is Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma.

He is charged with two counts of corruption.

Accused No 2 is Thint Holding (Southern Africa) Pty Ltd, formerly Thomson-CSF, a subsidiary of French-owned Thales that holds 80% of Thint Pty Ltd. Nkobi Holdings, Shaik's company, holds 20% of Thint, accused No 3.

Shaik is currently on appeal, having been found guilty of two counts of corruption and one of fraud. His brother Mo is now managing Nkobi Holdings.

Summonses were served on the two Thint companies yesterday morning in Pretoria. Both companies are also charged with two counts of corruption.

The main charge against Zuma, previously a member of the KwaZulu Natal legislature and KZN minister of economic affairs and tourism before serving as deputy president from June 1999 until he was fired by President Thabo Mbeki a few months ago, is that he benefited in a corrupt manner from his relationship with Shaik, to the tune of about R1,3-million, and was therefore part of a generally corrupt relationship.

This is the same charge that was brought against Shaik, and on which he was found guilty and sentenced to 15 years in jail. Appended to the indictment is a list of payouts allegedly made to Zuma by Shaik.

These total just under R1,3-million. Some of this money is alleged to have gone towards the construction of his home at Nkandla, KZN, which cost R1,34-million.

A specific corrupt act, of which Zuma is alleged to have been well aware, is a bribe of R500 000 a year (for two years) allegedly arranged for him by Shaik together with Thales.

It is alleged that this bribe, said to have been hidden in a service provider's agreement, was arranged so that Zuma, by then deputy president and head of government business, would ensure protection for Thint during the government's investigations into the multibillion- rand arms deal.

The investigations, set in motion by statements Independent Democrats leader Patricia de Lille made in parliament in September 1998, began in November that year.

The Nkobi-Thales consortium had won a tender for the supply of combat suites in the corvettes ordered as part of the Strategic Defence Package Acquisition Programme (the arms deal). The tender was worth R450-million, the corvette deal R1,3-billion.

Zuma is also alleged to have used his influence, in return for money, to assist Shaik with a number of other projects, including the establishment of an eco-tourism school in Durban, the Durban Point Road development, the establishment of an Nkobi Bank, certain dealings with a company named Altron and various other projects.

Both Thint companies are charged with having been party to the arms deal bribery request, which was allegedly set out in a so-called encrypted fax written by Thint's then local representative, Alain Thetard.

But neither Thint nor Thetard was charged during Shaik's trial because then minister of justice Penuell Maduna and then Scorpions chief Bulelani Ngcuka offered Thint immunity from prosecution in return for an affidavit from Thetard about the fax.

As it turned out, the affidavit stated that the fax was not a "bribe document" but merely Thetard's doodlings during a meeting. But it is thought Ngcuka wanted proof, for the Shaik trial, that the fax document had not simply been a fabrication. In effect, this was provided by Thetard's affidavit.

Sources at Thales in France have said that immunity was granted to them previously and, this being the case, the company would not co-operate in any new matter.

Local Thint director Pierre Moynot is out of the country at present but said earlier that "the matter" had not occurred during his watch, so there was little he could say. By last night, it is understood, Zuma had not yet had an opportunity to study the indictment.

Zuma is due to appear next Saturday in the Durban Regional Court for his case to be remanded to the high court on July 31 next year.

From: http://www.thestar.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=131&fArticleId=2981851