Former President Jacob Zuma has filed a court application to have quashed 16 charges of fraud, racketeering and money laundering he’s facing.
The alleged crimes relate to an arms procurement deal in the 1990s before he became president.
The French arms company Thales has also filed papers seeking to have dropped the charges its is facing for allegedly paying bribes to Zuma.
The National Prosecution authority’s confirmed that applications have been received from former President Jacob Zuma and French arms company Thales.
Zuma’s due to appear in the High Court in east coast city of Durban on November 30 for a hearing in this case.
He has maintained his innocence throughout.
The alleged offenses occurred while he was provincial economy minister in KwaZulu/Natal and later Deputy President
Thales submits that the decision in 2009 to drop the charges was neither set aside nor challenged by the State.
By reintroducing the charges now, the prosecution is not following its own protocols and the unreasonable delay in dealing with the matter makes a fair trial impossible.
A separate judicial inquiry into alleged state corruption while Zuma was president is currently hearing evidence in `Johannesburg