afrol News, 4 March - The state has filed a submission to the constitutional court against the leader of the governing African National Congress (ANC) and French arms company Thint, accusing them of attempting to cover up evidence ahead of Jacob Zuma's trial on corruption, fraud and money-laundering in Pietermaritzburg High Court in August.

Mr Zuma, who succeeds President Thabo Mbeki in a brushing political battle, is also accused of depriving the prosecution of obtaining evidence from Mauritius.

Prosecutors wonder why Zuma and Thint would act this way if they knew they were clean, describing that their action was meant to deprive the evidence from being used against them in the courts.

But Zuma and Thint erred prosecutors for using an invalid warrant to search the ANC leader's home. They also faulted the Durban High Court for granting the letter of request to Mauritian authorities to release the originals of 14 documents. The documents would help the state to prosecute Zuma and Thint.

The documents comprise of proofs that there was a meeting involving Zuma, the convicted fraudster Shabir Shaik and a former executive of Thint, Alain Thetard in Mauritius in 2000. The said meeting discussed a R500,000 bribe for Zuma.

Constitutional court is expected to hear the appeals against the warrants and letter of request on 11 and 12 March.

State counsel, Tim Trengove, argued that the court must not allow Zuma and Thint to illegally tamper with judicial process, especially when there is a conflict between public and individual interest.

Trengove allayed Zuma's fears that being named as a suspect in a criminal investigation does not mean he is guilty.

Mauritian Attorney-General Rama Valayden earlier objected to Zuma's request to withhold information from South African investigators. The objection followed his travels and talks with Mauritian judicial executives over the issue last month.

By staff writer

© afrol News

Related pages and feature

Current afrol News Top Stories