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Former South African President Jacob Zuma. (Photo: EPA-EFE / Nic Bothma / Pool)
The latest legal trial for the prosecution of former President Jacob Zuma and the French arms company Thales has been dismissed by the Constitutional Court. On Friday, the trial court ruled that Thales’s attempt to persist that the prosecution remain permanently had no chance of success.
When the corruption trial of former President Jacob Zuma begins on June 23 – Covid-19 and his health permits – a representative of the French arms company Thales will be at the dock next to him, accused of having bribed Zuma in connection with acquisitions related to the infamous 1999 Arms Trade.
This is the result of a ruling by the Constitutional Court issued on Friday, which dismisses Thales ‘permission to appeal against an October 2019 ruling that ordered Thales’ prosecution to proceed.
Thales’ lawyers argued before the Pietermaritzburg Superior Court last year that reinstatement of corruption charges against the company by former NPA chief Shaun Abrahams was irregular and a violation of procedural discretion. They argued that the French company was unable to receive a fair trial both for political reasons and because of the time that has elapsed since the original criminal charges against Thales were dropped in 2009.
Thales has repeatedly maintained that “he is not aware of any transgression committed by any of his employees in connection with the award of the contract for the combat systems of the corvettes in South Africa.”
His lawyers argued that a permanent stay of prosecution should be granted – in other words, that the French company not be brought to trial on this matter now or at any time in the future.
The Pietermaritzburg court disagreed, finding that Abrahams’ decision to proceed with the prosecution, based on his assessment of the strength of the state’s case against Zuma and Thales, was “substantively and procedurally rational and legal.”
Following this sentence, Thales approached the Constitutional Court in a final attempt to appeal against the rejection of his requested suspension of prosecution.
In a ruling in a paragraph published on Friday, the bank of the Constitutional Court stated:
“The Constitutional Court has considered this request for direct permission to appeal. It has concluded that the application should be rejected as it lacks reasonable prospects for success. “
It is not clear at this stage which representative of Thales will appear to be tried together with Zuma, but in a pre-trial hearing in April 2018, the firm’s vice president for conflict resolution and risk, Christine Guerrier was dispatched from Paris to take on this unenviable task. DM
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