ConCourt removes last barrier to Zuma trial

The Constitutional Court has dismissed French arms company Thales’ last bid to stop its prosecution for corrupting Jacob Zuma from going ahead – removing the final barrier for the Zuma trial to continue. The court found that the appeal should be dismissed with costs because ‘it lacks reasonable prospects of success’. News24 notes the decision means that there are no more legal challenges standing in the way of the state, allowing it to commence with the now 15-year-old case against Zuma and Thales, which is set to resume on 23 June. Thales is accused of offering Zuma a R500 000-a-year bribe – in exchange for the then Deputy President's ‘political protection’ from any potential investigation of the R60bn arms deal. While Zuma recently abandoned his Constitutional Court bid to prevent the case from proceeding, Thales persisted in a separate challenge. The company sought direct access to the Constitutional Court, after the KZN High Court (Pietermaritzburg) dismissed its application for a permanent stay of its corruption prosecution.

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