Johannesburg: A South African court yesterday dealt a blow to former Deputy President Jacob Zuma, ruling that prosecutors may ask Mauritius to release documents which could be used in new corruption proceedings against him.
The Durban High Court approved a bid by prosecutors to request documents that Mauritian authorities seized from a local branch of a French arms contractor and which they believe could show Zuma was involved in a bribe scheme.
"We are pleased the judge has cleared the way for us to finalise this part of the investigation and will do so as soon as possible," the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said in a statement after the ruling.
Once seen as the front-runner to succeed President Thabo Mbeki in 2009, Zuma was fired as Mbeki's deputy after he was implicated in the corruption trial of his former financial aide, Schabir Shaik.
Come back
While Zuma was himself later charged, the government's case collapsed last September - keeping alive his hopes for a political comeback when the ruling African National Congress (ANC) meets in December to select its new leadership.
Prosecutors have said they could file new charges against Zuma, however, and had argued the documents in Mauritius could play an important role in the case, which stems from an arms procurement scandal in 1999.
Prosecutors had earlier obtained copies of the documents, but the NPA now wants originals including a diary in which a former head of the French firm, Thint, made a note of a meeting he allegedly had with Zuma and Shaik about a bribe for the ex-deputy president.
Prosecutors have argued the diary and other documents would confirm that a bribe for Zuma was discussed and agreed.
Lawyers representing Zuma and Thint had argued that prosecutors acted improperly in obtaining copies of the documents and should therefore be prevented from trying to get the originals.
