A high court in South Africa has cancelled an earlier issued arrest warrant for former President Jacob Zuma.
The warrant was issued in February after he failed to appear in court, claiming he was in need of medical treatment.
Zuma’s lawyer presented the judge with a sick note from a military hospital.
The State prosecutors at the time raised questions over Zuma’s medical note submitted to the court.
State prosecutors then requested information from Zuma’s team about his ailments, but they were not provided at the time.
On Tuesday when Jacob Zuma returned to the court for his corruption trial to resume, Judge Kate Pillay in the Pietermaritzburg High Court canceled the arrest warrant.
Zuma’s lawyer Muzi Sikhakhane offered a letter to the court confirming that Zuma was ill when he failed to show up in court in February.
President Jacob Zuma has been accused of being corrupt for two dacades and has been in and out of court, till this day the is still no evidence to support these claims that he is indeed corrupt. #Zuma pic.twitter.com/31KHEfELCp
— Advovo ❁ (@advovolicious) June 23, 2020
The State has not challenged the authenticity of the letter, allowing the court to lift the arrest warrant.
In 2018 the South African National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) announced that the country’s former president would be facing prosecution for 18 charges of corruption.
The charges relate to 783 questionable payments Zuma allegedly received in connection with the controversial multi-billion rand arms deal.
Jacob Zuma according to the NPA boss would be facing charges including 1 count of racketeering, 2 counts of money laundering and 12 counts of fraud.
During Tuesday’s hearing Zuma’s lawyer Sikhakhane called for the case to be struck off the roll after the State requested more time.
But Judge Pillay rejected that call, saying that the State had confirmed that it was ready to go to trial.
The case has now been adjourned to September 8, 2020 as a date for the trial proper itself remains unsolved.
Source: Africafeeds.com
