Photo: GCIS/Kopano Tlape
Breaking: Now Zuma seeks acquittal of ALL corruption charges – report
Former president Jacob Zuma has filed plea documents, in which he argues for the state prosecutor Billy Downer’s recusal in the arms deal trial
Photo: GCIS/Kopano Tlape
In a dramatic turn of events, former president Jacob Zuma has asked the High Court in Pietermaritzburg to acquit him of the charges he faces in the arms deal trial.
This is according to eNCA, which reports that the bid will depend on whether or not he succeeds in his application to have state prosecutor advocate Billy Downer recuse himself.
According to the broadcaster, Zuma argues that Downer lacks the independence and impartiality required of a prosecutor.
The first day of Zuma’s arms deal trial got underway on Monday – but proceedings had to be postponed – to allow his lawyers to argue why Downer should not be allowed to prosecute their client.
The news comes just days after Zuma’s lawyers filed an affidavit, in which he elaborates on why they want the prosecutor removed
Zuma seeks acquittal in arms deal trial – so what happens now?
For now, it is now up to Judge Piet Koen to make a decision on Jacob Zuma’s recusal plea on Downer – only then will we get an idea on the way forward.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) confirmed on Thursday that it had received Zuma’s plea document via email on Wednesday evening, and would be studying it before formally responding.
“We are studying the document and we will submit our response in court as expected. At face value it looks like a regurgitation of the old false issues that have been previously rejected by the courts,” NPA spokesperson Sipho Ngwema said.
Zuma faces 16 charges of fraud, corruption, racketeering, and money-laundering related to the controversial multi-billion rand arms deal in the late 1990s.
The former president is alleged to have received 783 suspicious payments to the tune of R1.2 million from French arms manufacturer Thales, through his disgraced former financial advisor Shabir Shaik.
The payments are alleged to be bribes, in exchange for protecting Thales from an investigation into how it scored the contract.
Zuma has denied the allegations and claims they are politically motivated.
