Paradis Fiscaux et Judiciaires

Shaik had 'service provider' deal with Thomson

2004-10-26T14:58:00Z

Shaik had 'service provider' deal with Thomson

Durban

26 October 2004 12:41

The Durban High Court heard on Tuesday how Schabir Shaik signed an agreement with Thomson CSF International Africa to facilitate payments to his Nkobi group under the guise of a « service provider » agreement.

This is the latest evidence from forensic auditor Johan van der Walt who has been in the witness box at Shaik's fraud and corruption trial for four days.

He said Shaik's application form and covering letter for the agreement was sent to Thomson boss Alain Thetard on December 8, 2000.

It stated « kindly expedite our arrangement as soon as possible as matters are becoming extremely urgent with my client ».

Van der Walt said there was no client on Nkobi's books, other than Jacob Zuma, that this note could be related to.

He said under the agreement, Kobifin, an Nkobi subsidiary, had to identify investment projects to Thomson CSF and provide business plans for each project.

He said that what did not make sense was why the agreement came into effect for only six months, from November 1, 2000 to May 1, 2001.

Van der Walt, who is expected to give evidence for the next two weeks, said Thomson CSF was to pay Kobifin R500 000 in two instalments of R250 000 each.

The typed contract document shows that two additional payments of R250 000 were handwritten on to the document. It showed that two payments were due, amounting to R500 000 with a possibility of four, making the figure R1-million.

He said that what was significant was that at this time there was "a real need for Nkobi in cash", Zuma was in financial difficulties, and payments also had to be made into Zuma's traditional village project, Nkandla.

A sum of R249 000 was deposited into Kobitech's Absa account from Thomson International and « it appears that the balance of the service provider payments were not made and there were no attempts from the Nkobi group to legally enforce the payment of the amounts due », Van der Walt said.

This strengthened the argument that the agreement was not for providing services.

Shaik faces three counts fraud and corruption relating to payment allegedly made to Zuma for protection during an investigation into arms deal irregularities.

Sapa

All material copyright Mail&Guardian.

Shaik's assistant spills the beans

2004-10-18T14:58:00Z

source Mail & Guardian

Shaik's assistant spills the beans

Durban, South Africa

18 October 2004 10:59

Schabir Shaik's former personal assistant told the Durban High Court on Monday of a phone call in which Shaik asked Deputy President Jacob Zuma for help in securing a slice of the arms deal.

Bianca Singh said that at one point late in 1998 she was in Shaik's office when his cellphone rang. She gathered that the caller was his brother Chippy, then head of acquisitions in the Department of Defence and the man directing the South African National Defence Force's multibillion-rand arms procurement programme.

There was a brief conversation and Shaik told Chippy not to worry.

After ending the call, Shaik dialled a new number and said : "Hello, my brother, hello, JZ."

Singh said Shaik always referred to Zuma as « JZ ».

« He said 'Chippy's under pressure and we really need your help to land this deal', » Singh said.

At the time, Zuma was KwaZulu-Natal minister for economic affairs and tourism, and deputy president of the African National Congress.

Singh said Shaik was definitely referring to the arms deal because it was the only project he referred to as a « deal ».

She said Shaik had helped Zuma to open an Absa account, which was managed through the computers of Shaik's Nkobi group.

She said money was transferred to Zuma from an Nkobi subsidiary, Kobifin, and from Shaik's personal account. This included payments for school and university fees for Zuma's children.

Nkobi was also paying the rent for a Durban flat that Zuma lived in for a time when he was still a minister.

She recalled an occasion when Shaik was in a meeting and she answered his cellphone to find Zuma calling.

She called Shaik out of the meeting and he spoke to Zuma. Shaik then asked her how much money she had in petty cash.

« I had R500. I gave Mr Shaik the R500 and he took out another R200 from his pocket. He asked me for an envelope, placed the money into the envelope, then asked me to call Mr Isaacs [the Nkobi group accountant]. He then told me I need to go with Mr Isaacs to the airport and then … to take the envelope to the deputy president [Zuma]. »

When she arrived at the airport she met Zuma's bodyguards, who showed her to a small office where Zuma was.

"He closed the door. He was happy to see me. I then handed him the envelope."

« Do you have any idea what that was all about ? » asked prosecutor Billy Downer.

« No, » said Singh.

Singh said Shaik used to buy his clothes from a Durban store named Casanova. Clothing was delivered at the Nkobi offices, sometimes for Shaik and sometimes for Zuma.

Shaik once remarked that Zuma « wears very cheap suits ». After that, Zuma began wearing clothes from Casanova, including expensive suits by Armani and Gucci.

She said Casanova sometimes complained about payment. Asked by Downer if Shaik used to drop names in his business dealings, she said if a new contract was being negotiated, Shaik would assure his potential partners that going with Nkobi would be very good because it was a black economic empowerment company with the backing of « various ministers » and the deputy president.

Singh said, however, she did not think Nkobi qualified as a black empowerment company because it had only one African director who did not play a major role.

« I don't think it was, from my little knowledge that I know of black empowerment. The right way is not just to put people on your letterhead … when these people are not actually adding benefit to your company or working there as such. »

She said although Shaik highlighted Nkobi's black empowerment credentials in public, at times in the office he would say he's « just tired of these black people ».

She said she left Nkobi abruptly in March 1999. She said Shaik had begun screaming at her in front of other people and using abusive language, and one day when he did this after being unable to locate a particular file, she typed out her resignation and left.

When she needed a job in February 2000 she came to an « understanding » with Shaik before rejoining Nkobi.

During this period, she became aware of a probe by Parliament's standing committee on public accounts into the arms deal.

She said Shaik was playing golf and phoned her because he was unable to get hold of his wife to ask her to videotape Chippy's televised appearance at the enquiry.

She contacted Shaik's wife and asked him the next day if his wife had managed to tape it.

« He said 'yes, she did videotape it but they're focusing on the wrong person', » Singh said. « When he phoned me to say he couldn't get his wife to do the videotaping, I could sense he was worried from the tone of his voice. When I asked him the next day, his tone was more relaxed. »

One of the documents she saw when she first took up the job was a laminated, black-and-white copy of the diagrams of the corvettes bought in the arms deal. The diagrams were kept in Shaik's office.

Nkobi, in partnership with French arms manufacturer Thomson, eventually secured the tender for the « combat suite » for the corvettes.

Singh said Shaik once suggested she go on a project-management course because he wanted her to manage a hotel project at Kosi Bay.

He told her she would need to be at his « beck and call » and went on to say that was how his relationship with various ministers was.

« He said he has to carry a jar of Vaseline because he gets fucked all the time, but that's okay because he gets what he wants and they get what they want. »

Asked who he had been referring to, he said the various ministers.

— Sapa

All material copyright Mail&Guardian

Shaik's assistant 'knew too much'

2004-10-18T14:57:00Z

Source Mail & Guardian

Shaik's assistant 'knew too much'

Wendy Jasson da Costa | Durban, South Africa

18 October 2004 03:26

Fraud and corruption accused Schabir Shaik's former assistant Bianca Singh told the Durban High Court on Monday she had to sign a confidentiality clause on leaving his employ because she knew too much about his relationship with Deputy President Jacob Zuma.

Singh said their business relationship ended abruptly after an incident at his bungalow at a luxury resort in Mauritius.

She told the court she had accompanied Shaik to the Indian Ocean island to take notes at a meeting with Alain Thetard, a director of Thint — a subsidiary of arms company Thomson CSF.

She saw it as a way to enhance her career and although Shaik had given her explicit instructions not to tell anyone in the office about it, she did tell some relatives and close colleagues.

Shaik said it was important she take with her a file of newspaper stories she had started compiling about the arms deal.

At the meeting, they discussed the foreign-exchange problems of Prodiba, the driver's licence card project. She said Shaik also said they had to do « damage control » about news stories on the arms deal.

Shaik asked Thetard if he was up to date with developments on the arms deal and handed him the cuttings file.

He said if the Heath investigating unit continued and if a « certain ANC [African National Congress] member opened his mouth », they would be in « real trouble ».

The unit, headed by retired judge Willem Heath, had been given a dossier of allegations by politician Patricia de Lille and wanted President Thabo Mbeki to proclaim an investigation into the deal.

Heath was subsequently left out of an investigation by the national director of public prosecutions, the auditor general and the public protector.

Singh said Shaik then asked her if she was still minuting the meeting. The other people in the room became uncomfortable and she was asked to leave.

She sat in the reception area and heard raised voices through the door.

Later, Singh — a married mother — went to Shaik's bungalow to hand over some documents and an « incident » took place.

Shaik's advocate Francois Van Zyl objected to this statement and prosecutor Billy Downer told the judge that an « incident of a personal nature » had occurred, but the details were not disclosed.

Singh said she left the next day on the first available flight home. She left the folder containing the minutes and air tickets at the reception desk and asked that they be given to Shaik.

She never spoke to Shaik again and never returned to Nkobi Holdings.

One of Shaik's brothers phoned to ask if she was « okay ». Shaik's lawyer Anand Moodley phoned to say a contract would be drawn up between Singh, Shaik and Kobifin so that she could be paid out for her services.

Moodley also told her Shaik insisted on a confidentiality clause because she knew too much about his relationship with Zuma.

She said she saw someone accompanying Shaik on Monday walk into the court carrying the same file.

The latest evidence comes from a diary for the year 2000, which Singh handed to the Scorpions a week ago.

She said she had forgotten about the diary and had stumbled on it when she was going through boxes at her home looking for memorabilia of school friends.

Earlier, she told the court of a phone call in which Shaik asked Zuma for help securing a slice of the arms deal.

All material copyright Mail&Guardian.

Former SA official denies graft

2004-10-13T14:55:00Z

Source BBC

Former SA official denies graft

A former financial adviser to South Africa's Deputy President Jacob Zuma has pleaded not guilty to charges of fraud and corruption.

Millionaire businessman Schabir Shaik entered the plea at a packed courtroom in the city of Durban.

He is accused of making improper payments to Mr Zuma of more than $150,000 in an effort to secure business contracts.

The judge reminded the court that Mr Zuma himself was not on trial.

« The deputy president is not on trial… it should be clearly understood that the summary of fact is not established fact and unless proven it should not be regarded as truth, » Judge Hilary Squires cautioned, as one of South Africa's most sensational corruption trials got underway.

The BBC's Grant Clark, who attended the trial, says that although Mr Zuma has not been charged, it is widely regarded that his political career is on the line.

The deputy president - tipped to succeed President Thabo Mbeki - has denied any wrongdoing.

'Curry favour'

In their opening statement, defence lawyers painted a compassionate picture of Mr Shaik helping out an old friend in financial trouble, our correspondent says.

They said Mr Shaik made large personal loans to Mr Zuma, paid his rent and funded his children's education, after the politician confided that he was having money problems.

The state is arguing that Mr Shaik wrote off the debt because Mr Zuma was never intended to pay back the loans - they were meant to curry favour.

Prosecution lawyers said they will also try to prove that the businessman arranged for a French arms manufacturer to pay Mr Zuma almost $80,000 a year in return for protection against a probe into arms deal irregularities.

Mr Shaik also faces charges of money laundering and tax evasion.

On Tuesday the court rejected an application by broadcasters to televise the trial, expected to last until the end of the year.

Story from BBC NEWS : http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/3740784.stm

Published : 2004/10/13 18:39:04 GMT