A French arms company has applied to the Pietermaritzburg High Court to have charges of corruption relating to the controversial multibillion-rand arms deal withdrawn, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said on Friday.
”The French company has launched a civil action against the NPA demanding that charges are withdrawn against them,” NPA spokesperson Makhosini Nkosi said.
”We received papers and are studying them and will make a decision after we have familiarised ourselves with the contents of the application,” he added.
The charges relate to an alleged attempt by Deputy President Jacob Zuma to solicit a R500 000-a-year bribe from Thomson CSF, which changed its name to Thales and now to Thint to protect the company during the probe into aspects of the arms deal.
The NPA has since decided not to proceed with a case against Zuma, saying that although it had prima facie evidence, it would not succeed in a prosecution.
Zuma has since successfully laid a complaint about this statement to the public protector.
Thint’s involvement is reported to centre on allegations of an encrypted fax containing details of the alleged bribe.
Sipho Ngwema, also a spokesperson for the NPA, said that two warrants of arrest have been served for the French company and that they are still outstanding.
According to The Star newspaper on Friday, Thint said that it has negotiated with the National Directorate of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) and former minister of justice Penuell Maduna that charges would be withdrawn against it for help with ”decoding” the ”encrypted fax”.
The newspaper said that an agreement was struck on April 19 that an affidavit from Thint director Alain Thetard would be supplied in return for the charges being dropped before Schabir Shaik goes on trial on October 11.
Shaik, who is also Zuma’s financial adviser, is also the owner of an arms company being probed.
A Pietermaritzburg High Court employee confirmed that there was an application by an A Thetard against the NDPP, the director of public prosecutions, the Directorate of Special Offences and others, but could not provide further details.
The application goes to court on August 20. — Sapa