Last-ditch bid to free Shaik

A report on the Mail & Guardian Online site quotes senior registrars\' clerk Delano Louw as saying that the papers filed included transcripts of the trial, the appeal and an application for condonation of late filing, explaining why they had missed the deadline to bring the Constitutional Court appeal. The Supreme Court of Appeal on November 6 upheld Shaik’s conviction on two counts of corruption and one of fraud and his 15 year sentence. Shaik had 14 days from the overturning of his appeal to lodge a challenge with the Constitutional Court. Earlier on Friday, Shaik\'s lawyer Reeves Parsee said he hoped to have lodged the appeal with the Constitutional Court by the end of the day. Full report on Mail & Guardian Online site

Shaik’s application claims his trial was ‘unfair’ because he was never charged with Jacob Zuma or the French arms manufacturing giant Thint on allegations of corruption and fraud. Shaik\'s lawyer Reeves Parsee was quoted in a report on the News24 site as saying the fact that Zuma and Thint were not charged but placed on the State\'s witness list in Shaik\'s trial effectively silenced the two to his client\'s disadvantage. ‘Because they were still suspects they would not have wanted to speak for fear of implicating themselves,’ he said. The decision to try Shaik alone constituted ‘trial unfairness’ and was ‘unlawful and illegal’. In the appeal application, filed by Parsee, he said that both before trial investigations and during trial legal procedures had compromised Shaik\'s constitutional right to a fair trial. A Correctional Services spokesperson said Shaik was still being treated at a Durban hospital. Full report on News24 site

The papers also reveal allegations of misconduct on the part of the prosecution, which emerged in the proceedings against Zuma and Thint, says a report in The Witness. The allegations were unknown to Shaik’s trial judge Hillary Squires or the Appeal Court judges. These allegations include secret meetings between the former National Director of Public Prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka and the representatives of Thint in Paris, and a meeting at the home of former Justice Minister Penuell Maduna during which Maduna said the focus of the prosecution was Shaik and not the French. Full report in The Witness This is the last issue of Legalbrief Forensic for this year. Publication will resume on January 4. E-Brief News wishes subscribers a happy and peaceful festive season.