JOHANNESBURG – Prosecutors involved in former president Jacob Zuma’s corruption case have until Friday to finalize their decision as to whether or not to prosecute him.
National Director of Public Prosecutions (NPA), Shaun Abrahams, gave prosecutors until Friday to provide him with their recommendations on the long-standing matter.
Zuma submitted his representations to the NPA last month as to why he should not be prosecuted.
This follows a court ruling which set aside a 2009 decision by former acting NPA boss, Mokotedi Mpshe, to drop charges against him.
During investigations into the controversial Strategic Defence Procurement Package also known as the Arms deal, auditing firm KPMG identified 783 payments made to Zuma by his former financial advisor and convicted fraudster, Schabir Shaik, between 1995 and 2006.
The payments amounted to just over R4 million.
In 2007, Zuma was then slapped with 18 charges including 12 counts of fraud, four counts of corruption, one count of money laundering and one count of racketeering.
Two years later, Mpshe withdrew the charges following representations from Zuma which included recordings of telephone conversations between then Scorpions boss, Leonard McCarthy, and former NPA boss Bulelani Ngcuka.
Zuma claimed this showed political interference in the decision to charge him.
Zuma has enjoyed support from his party throughout his legal battle. However, with Zuma now out of power, it remains to be seen whether the support will be maintained.
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