The government asked the Durban High Court on Wednesday to seize R34-million in assets from Schabir Shaik, the former financial adviser of dismissed deputy president Jacob Zuma.
Lawyers and journalists crowded the court room on Wednesday, but Shaik, a long-standing friend of Zuma, did not attend the hearing, SAFM radio reported.
The National Prosecuting Authority said the Prevention of Organised Crime Act authorises — and obliges — it to seize proceeds from any acts of corruption. Company shares are among the items targeted for seizure, said Makhosini Nkosi, the authority’s spokesperson.
Shaik was sentenced last year to 15 years in prison for graft, but is out on bail pending an appeal. The judge found Shaik had a ”generally corrupt relationship” with Zuma and made payments to the former anti-apartheid fighter totalling about R1,2-million to fund a lavish lifestyle.
The judge also found that Zuma was aware of Shaik’s efforts to facilitate a yearly payment of R500 000 to the former deputy president from French weapons company Thint Holdings — formerly Thomson CSF — to deflect investigations into a 1999 arms deal with the South African government.
President Thabo Mbeki fired Zuma in June after he was implicated in Shaik’s case, throwing open the question of who will succeed Mbeki at the end of his second and final term in 2009 — once certain to be Zuma.
Zuma himself goes on trial for corruption on July 31. He denies any wrongdoing.
More damaging politically was a subsequent charge that Zuma raped a family friend. Zuma has since relinquished his leadership functions in the governing African National Congress, though he retains the title of party deputy president. His next court appearance in the rape case is on February 13. — Sapa-AP