Zuma to Face Corruption Charges over £1.81b Arms Deal

Ololade Adeyanju/
Former South African President Jacob Zuma will be prosecuted for corruption relating to a 30 billion rand (£1.81billion) arms deal in the late 1990s.
Chief state prosecutor Shaun Abrahams told a media conference that Zuma’s attempts to head off the charges that have been hanging over him for more than a decade had failed.
The charges were originally filed – but then dropped – by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) shortly before Zuma ran for president in 2009.
An NPA spokesperson said earlier this week that Zuma had already been informed ofte decision.
Zuma faces one charge of racketeering, two charges of corruption, one charge of money laundering and 12 of fraud.
“After consideration of the matter, I am of the view that there are reasonable prospects of successful prosecution of Mr Zuma on the charges listed in the indictment,” Abrahams said.
Zuma was linked to the deal through Schabir Shaikh, his former financial adviser who was jailed for corruption.
Shaikh’s conviction almost torpedoed Zuma’s bid for president but the charges against him were dropped on a technicality in 2009.
He became president shortly afterwards, but his opponents fought a lengthy legal battle to have them reinstated. Zuma countered with his own legal challenges.
South Africa’s High Court reinstated the charges in 2016 and the Supreme Court upheld that decision last year, rejecting an appeal by Zuma and describing the NPA’s initial decision to set aside the charges as “irrational”.
It then fell to Abrahams to decide whether or not the NPA would pursue a case against Zuma, who resigned as head of state on February 14 on the orders of the ANC.