Zuma and Shaik went to Malaysia

The Durban High Court heard on Friday that Deputy President Jacob Zuma accompanied Nkobi group director Schabir Shaik on a visit to Malaysia in 1995.

This is according to a report by forensics expert Johan van der Walt from the KPMG accounting and auditing firm.

Van der Walt, who was commissioned in 2003 as part of the fraud and corruption investigation into Shaik, said that the Nkobi group positioned itself in the arms industry from at least 1995.

This happened when Shaik and “various individuals” visited Malaysia with their itinerary including plans to meet with the Malaysian defence minister.

He said the documentation indicated that Zuma accompanied Shaik on a visit to Malaysia during July/August 1995.

He said Shaik had also indicated to the Malaysian defence ministry in August 1995 that his Nkobi group had purchased majority shares in South African companies involved in defence-related technologies, but Van der Walt said this was not true as Nkobi was still in its “embryonic stage”.

Earlier, the name of former police commissioner George Fivaz came up in the court.

According to Van der Walt, Shaik wrote a letter to Jean-Marc Pizano at aeronautical service provider Advanced Technologies and Engineering (ATE) in October 1995.

He said that, according to the letter, Shaik believed he could influence tender procedures through Fivaz regarding Kobipol, a Nkobi project.

From a fax dated November 8 1995, it was apparent that the Kobipol project involved the handling of police technology equipment.

In a letter dated August 8 1995, Shaik also wrote to the South African high commissioner in Malaysia to thank a Miss Mogale for her assistance during the trip with Zuma.

He told her that Nkobi had major defence interests in South Africa and that the Malaysians were keen to obtain their capabilities for their defences.

ANC names on letters

Earlier, the court heard that some letters seized from Shaik’s Nkobi group of companies appeared to have been created at Nkobi even though they were written in the name of senior figures in the African National Congress.

Van der Walt said one of these letters was written in the name of then ANC treasurer general Makhenkisi Stofile, but not signed by him.

Dated May 9 1995, it was addressed to the executive chairperson of the Malaysian Renong group and indicated that Stofile would be going to Malaysia later that month and that he wanted to meet the country’s prime minister and minister of defence.

Van der Walt earlier pointed out a similar unsigned letter, also found on the file, in the name of a senior ANC official in KwaZulu-Natal, acknowledging — on behalf of the organisation — receipt of a dividend from Nkobi.

Shaik is alleged to have organised a R500 000-a-year bribe for Zuma in exchange for protection during probes into arms-deal irregularities. — Sapa