Shaik denied that he had anything to do with the sudden decline of the project.

Notyhawa said that Cosatu had never objected to the trial of Shaik, but he went on to say that " what we object to is that the judge erred in implicating a person who has not been part of the proceedings and has been denied his right to respond in a proper forum ".

Many reporters asked him if he would petition the Chief Justice to appeal the convictions that Judge Squires denied grounds of appeal, to which Shaik replied that his legal team was considering the matter.

In 1999, Shaik wrote all the loans off without any explanation.

Meanwhile, Shaik and Zuma wanted to establish a new venture, Nkobi Bank, to act as financial advisor to a bidding consortium on any large-scale public-or private-sector project.

Alan Thétard, then one of Thomson-CSF ’ s directors, met with Schabir Shaik in Durban on 30 September 1999, during the course of which it was agreed that Thétard would give Shaik money to cover Zuma ’ s debts in exchange for Zuma ’ s protection from the commission investigating the arms deal, and ongoing support for any future Thomson-CSF deals with the South African government.

At this point, Zuma was in desperate need for money as the bribe was going to cover the continued construction of his Nkandla development, yet Thétard has not transferred any money to Shaik thus far.

The fax, which was later obtained in a raid on Shaik ’ s office by the Scorpions, contained a non-bribery clause next to which Shaik wrote “ conflicts with intention ”, yet despite the careful set-up, Thomson-CSF did not transfer any money to Shaik.

Shaik was sentenced to three years for fraud ; however, Judge Squires said he found mitigating circumstances for not imposing the same minimum penalty for the fraud charge, as Shaik had not been the instigator and the crime had no adverse effect on any other party.

Schabir Shaik, the financial advisor to the president of the African National Congress party Jacob Zuma, was found guilty of organising a bribe on behalf of Thales.

During subsequent negotiations over the latter part of 1999, Shaik and Thétard agreed to a bribe amount of R1 million ( US $ 154, 000 ), and at a meeting in March 2000, Thétard, Shaik, and Zuma finalised the exchange.

For the second charge of corruption against Shaik, the State proved that Shaik had solicited a bribe from French arms company Thomson for Zuma.

The most controversial document produced by the State was a fax ostensibly setting out a bribe agreement between Shaik, Zuma, and Alain Thétard regarding the March 2000 meeting and R1 million ( USD $ 154, 000 ) payment to Zuma.

Van der Walt said he found a great deal of correspondence about the payment of the money and a service provider agreement that Shaik concluded were used to mask the bribe.

The formal part of the trial ended shortly after the defence counsel asked the court to consider the possibility that Shaik had sought a bribe of R500, 000 ( US $ 77, 000 ) a year from Thompson-CSF without Zuma's knowledge.

Judge Squires found Shaik guilty of a generally corrupt relationship with Zuma and for soliciting a bribe for Zuma from Thomson-CSF.

Schabir Shaik is a South African businessman from the Berea, Durban, who rose to prominence due to his close association with South African President Jacob Zuma during his time as Deputy President.

Zuma had been elected Chairperson of the African National Congress, and Shaik assisted him financially, mostly in the form of interest-free loans with no date of repayment.

Shaik was found guilty on two counts of corruption and one count of fraud, with judge Squires stating in his 165-page verdict that there was " overwhelming " evidence of a corrupt relationship between Shaik and Zuma.

Squires was accused by supporters of Schabir Shaik and then-Deputy President Jacob Zuma of being racist, because of his Rhodesian background, and the fact that he was a white judge who served under the apartheid regime.

Past targets have included former South African president Thabo Mbeki, former South African Deputy President and now President of South Africa Jacob Zuma, businessman Schabir Shaik and Winnie Mandela.

The case, tried in Durban High Court before Judge Hilary Squires, proved the fraudulent and corrupt relationship between Durban-based businessman Schabir Shaik and South African politician and anti-apartheid leader Jacob Zuma.

After Shaik's brother Chippy was suspended from the Department of Defence for his involvement in a corrupt arms deal, Schabir Shaik was arrested in 2001 for the possession of secret documents, after which investigators found that he was involved in corrupt dealings with Zuma as well as fraud.

Shaik, who was Zuma's financial advisor at the time, knew that Zuma could never afford to repay the sum of the loans on his salary.

Shaik did not expect to be paid back, however, as he was buying influence with Zuma, which was used to win government contracts for his company, Nkobi Holdings.

Shaik said that he would use his political connections in order to facilitate the contracts and tenders, because at that point both Shaik and Zuma were confident that Zuma would be made Deputy President in the post-Mandela government.

Zuma was given more loans to facilitate the deal for Shaik and to help Nkobi receive more government contracts.

The first newspaper article hinting at the relationship between Zuma and Shaik appeared at this time ; however, it was insignificant.

Shaik was put on trial for fraud and corruption at the Durban High Court from 11 October 2004.

There have been several accusations of Shaik violating the terms of his parole-including staying at Thanda Private Game Reserve for three nights in June 2009.

Judge Squires sentenced Shaik to two terms of 15 years for corruption and one term of 3 years for fraud, to be served concurrently.

Fortunately for Shaik, his brother, Chippy, was in charge of arms acquisition at the Department of Defence.

In June 1996, Shaik held a meeting to tell his directors that they must gear up to bid for the electronic defence system needed to guide and protect South Africa's newly acquired corvettes.

Zuma wrote a cheque for R1 million to his contractors, the payment of which was stopped by Shaik.

By late 2000, Shaik knew that the South African Revenue Service ( SARS ) and the Scorpions would be watching all financial transactions made between him and Zuma, so the international division of Thomson-CSF sent an encrypted fax to Nkobi Holdings detailing a “ service provider agreement ” which updated the contract signed between Nkobi Holdings and Thomson-CSF for the delivery of the Corvettes.

As the year progressed, the relationship between Shaik and Zuma had attracted more attention, and by October 2000, South Africa ’ s leading corruption prosecutor, Judge Willem Heath, formally asked President Thabo Mbeki for a proclamation allowing him to investigate the arms deal.

In their efforts to prove this charge, the State led a number of witnesses to show, as explained by Downer, that Zuma was " on retainer for Shaik.

" She also testified that Shaik arranged financial affairs for Zuma, managed his bank accounts on the computer, and discussed his financial situation with him.

The State's next witness was KPMG forensic auditor Johan van der Walt, who testified for several hours that the payments made by Shaik to Zuma " sometimes threatened the financial existence of the whole group.

Shaik told her that it was for his financial director.

At the end of the testimonies for the first charge, Downer pointed out they need not prove that Zuma did anything out of the ordinary to help Shaik as " you can corrupt a politician by paying him to do something he is paid to do every day.

Shaik told the court that the company's auditors and financial director Colin Isaacs took full responsibility for the financial side of operations, that he was sure that the accounting books were in order, and that when he became aware of the problem he had it corrected.