The arms deal corruption case against former president Jacob Zuma and French arms manufacturer, Thales, is set to resume on Monday in the Kwazulu-Natal High Court in Pietermaritzburg, with Judge Piet Koen expected to make a decision on whether to recusal himself from the trial.
Arms deal corruption trial
When the trial adjourned last October, Judge Koen asked the state and the defence to make submissions on whether he should recuse himself from presiding over the matter.
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This after Koen indicated that he may have to recuse himself for the opinions he made when he dismissed Zuma’s bid to get arms deal lead prosecutor, advocate Billy Downer, removed from the corruption and fraud trial.
This also includes the views the judge made about the merits of Zuma’s private prosecution case against Downer and journalist Karyn Maughan for allegedly leaking his private medical records.
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In October 2021, Judge Koen dismissed Zuma’s special plea application to have Downer removed from the arms deal trial.
The former president had argued that the state prosecutor lacked the title and impartiality to prosecute the case.
Judge Koen disagreed with the 14 grounds Zuma’s legal team relied on to have Downer removed, finding that they were based on “inadmissible hearsay evidence and not on fact”.
Zuma’s subsequent leave to appeal applications before the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) and a reconsideration of that decision by then-SCA President Mandisa Maya were also unsuccessful. The matter is now currently before the Constitutional Court.
Zuma and Thales are on trial over the controversial multibillion-rand arms deal concluded in the late 1990s. The former president and the French arms manufacturer are facing multiple counts including fraud‚ corruption, money laundering and racketeering.
The state has called for Judge Koen to continue to preside over the trial, while Zuma’s legal team has called for the judge’s recusal arguing that his conflicted due to his comments.
Zuma and a representative of Thales were not expected in court on Monday.
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