ILLICIT ARMS DEALS CONTINUE TO HAUNT ZUMA

UNCLAS PRETORIA 001463 E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KJUS MP PGOV PREL SF SUBJECT: ILLICIT ARMS DEALS CONTINUE TO HAUNT ZUMA REF: PRETORIA 1460 ¶1. (U) Press reports indicate the legal saga of ANC President Jacob Zuma and his illicit arms deals with former financial adviser Schabir Shaik continues. While Germany dropped its probe into ThyssenKrupp, a German arms manufacturer, and its deal in the late 1990s involving ANC President Zuma (reftel), the footprint of illicit deals has followed Zuma to Mauritius where another legal action is underway. This case involves Thint, a French arms manufacturer, and evidence that was used to convict Schabir Shaik, former defense procurer and financial adviser to Zuma. Zuma's legal team sought to secure 13 documents in an effort to prepare Zuma for his August 4 court summons in South Africa. ¶2. (U) The South African National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) application to the Mauritius Independent Commission Against Corruption to secure the contested original documents will continue unmolested by Zuma's legal team. The ANC president had requested permission to be involved in the NPA's application process in Mauritius, but was denied by the Mauritius Supreme Court. The Supreme Court determined that the NPA's request for the documents, including a diary from 2000 of Thint's chief executive allegedly detailing bribe amounts and a meeting with Zuma and Shaik to discuss the bribe, does not jeopardize Zuma's trial rights. BOST