Former president Jacob Zuma’s lawyers are fighting to introduce a letter, understood to have been written by former prosecutions boss Shaun Abrahams shortly after he decided to reinstate charges against Zuma, as evidence in Zuma’s battle to permanently stop his corruption prosecution.
The state objected to Zuma’s advocate Muzi Sikhakane reading the contents of Abrahams’ letter – in which he allegedly asks the Hawks to conduct further investigations into accusations raised by French arms company Thales’ former lawyer Ajay Sooklal – into the court record.
Wim Trengove, for the state, argued that Zuma’s legal team would need to apply for the letter to be admitted into evidence. The court was adjourned to allow the state and the defense to discuss a possible resolution of the impasse, which could see the Abrahams letter either read out in court or thrown out as inadmissible.
Sooklal, meanwhile, has publicly confirmed that he will be a state witness against Zuma and Thales, should the case against the pair proceed. In his affidavit to the Hawks, he reportedly claimed that Thales paid a €1m donation to the ANC – in exchange for the state dropping charges against it in October 2004.
Sikhakhane on Thursday contended that a letter emanating from the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) specifically raised concerns about the role former justice minister Penuell Maduna allegedly played in the dropping of charges against Thales, which resulted in it not being charged with Zuma’s former financial adviser Schabir Shaik.
This, Sikhakhane suggested, countered claims by the state that Maduna played a “minimal role” in the Zuma prosecution, and showed that, as late as March 2018, the NPA had asked that allegations Maduna had received bribes be investigated.
Business Day understands that Abrahams asked the Hawks to investigate a number of Sooklal’s claims under oath, including that former president Thabo Mbeki allegedly confirmed to Thales CEO Jean-Paul Perrier that former French president Jacques Chirac had discussed the company with him and that he would allegedly instruct Maduna and other senior ANC officials to look into the withdrawal of charges against the company.
Sooklal also claimed Maduna was paid €50,000 for his role in getting the charges dropped. The revelations about the mysterious letter came after advocates for the state faced questions about why former National Director of Public Prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka did not pursue corruption charges against Thales after its representative Alain Thethard reneged on his agreement to co-operate with the state’s investigation into Shaik.
Thethard had initially confirmed that he was the author of the so-called “encrypted fax” used to prove that Thales had agreed to a R500,000 a year bribe for Zuma, in exchange for his protection from any potential arms deal investigation. He retracted this evidence a month later.
Judges Esther Steyn and Bhekisisa Mnguni questioned NPA advocate Andrew Breitenbach about why, given that the state knew long before the case against Shaik commenced that Thethard had been dishonest, it still chose not to pursue the company for corruption.
Breitenbach argued that Ngcuka chose to honour the deal the state had with Thales, partly because of concerns that pursuing the company may result in delays in the Shaik prosecution.
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