South Africa’s Zuma seeks to have corruption case scrapped

South Africa’s former president Jacob Zuma on Friday lodged a
court application to try to have quashed $2.5-billion corruption
case linked to a 1990s arms deal, state prosecutors said.

Zuma has been charged with 16 counts of fraud, racketeering and
money laundering relating to the arms deal dating back to before he
took office in 2009.

Natasha Ramkisson-Kara, spokeswoman for the National Prosecuting
Authority , told AFP that Zuma’s lawyers filed papers at the High
Court in Durban requesting a “permanent stay of prosecution”.

“I can confirm that (the application has been filed),” she said
on the phone.

Zuma, 76, is due back in court for a hearing on November 30.

He is accused of taking bribes from French defence company
Thales during his time as a provincial economy minister and later
as deputy president of the ruling ANC party.

He allegedly pocketed around four million rand ($340,000,
280,000 euros) from 783 payments handled by Schabir Shaik, a
businessman who acted as his financial adviser.

Thales on Thursday announced in a statement that it had also
filed its own court application to have the prosecution
dropped.

The company argues that the re-introduction of the charges
“holds no validity” because the charges were originally struck down
in 2009.

A separate judicial enquiry into alleged state corruption during
Zuma’s time as president is currently hearing evidence in
Johannesburg.

(AFP)

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