A state witness told the Durban High Court that Schabir Shaik’s Nkobi Holdings regularly got calls from Wesbank about overdue vehicle payments owed by Deputy President Jacob Zuma.
Celia Bester, who was an accountant with the group in 1998 and 1999, was testifying in Schabir Shaik’s fraud and corruption trial.
She said when Shaik was irritated with Zuma, he did not make the payments.
Bester said she wrote several memos to Shaik raising her concerns about the group’s finances.
She told the court ”we were constantly in overdraft” and the cash flow was tight.
Bester said when she was moved from project management to the accounting side of the business, she found the group’s books were two years behind.
The group was also in arrears with pay-as-you-earn and value-added tax payments to the South African Revenue Service — probably because of the cash-flow difficulties.
She described Shaik as a volatile person who ”rants and raves” and ”stressed” people.
He had a reputation for being highly irritable. She once threatened to leave the company because he persisted in speaking to her in a demeaning manner.
He later apologised.
Bester said Shaik knew what was happening with the company’s books on a daily basis. However, ”he always left things too late”. — Sapa
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