Durban businessman Schabir Shaik returns to the city’s high court on Tuesday for his application for leave to appeal against his conviction and 15-year jail sentence for fraud and corruption.
Shaik, who faced two charges of corruption and one of fraud, all linked to his relationship with former deputy president Jacob Zuma, first went on trial in October last year.
In June, Judge Hillary Squires found that Shaik and Zuma had a ”generally corrupt relationship” and sentenced him to 15 years in jail on each of the corruption charges and three years for fraud. The sentences will run concurrently.
On Monday, Judge Squires’s secretary Margaret Parker said the judge will hear Shaik’s argument without his two assessors at his side and it is ”impossible to tell” how long the application will last.
Last week, Shaik’s attorney Reeves Parsee said argument ”could take 10 minutes or two days”.
Parsee said he and advocate Francois van Zyl will have to convince Judge Squires that ”another court might possibly come to another decision” regarding Shaik.
Prosecutor Billy Downer said: ”They have to convince the judge that he erred and we will say why we think he was correct.”
After Shaik’s conviction, Zuma was sacked by President Thabo Mbeki and charged with corruption.
He goes on trial in October. — Sapa