Former South African president Jacob Zuma accepted more than 700 bribes over the course of a decade before he was president, including cash payments from French arms company Thales, prosecutors said on the first day of his corruption trial.
Zuma, the president of Africa’s most developed economy from 2009 until he was forced out amid other scandals in 2018, was charged with multiple counts of corruption, as well as racketeering, fraud, tax evasion, and money laundering.
He pleaded not guilty to all counts and claimed the trial was politically motivated.
The 79-year-old, who wore a blue suit, red tie, and face mask in court, also filed papers asking for the chief prosecutor to be removed from the case, claiming he was biased. The judge said he would consider the application.
Zuma could be jailed for 25 years if convicted.
After the trial was adjourned until July 19, he addressed hundreds of supporters outside the courthouse.
“I have never taken anything from anyone, I have done nothing wrong,” he said.
The corruption charges relate to the time before he was head of state but a political figure on the rise, and include the period when he was deputy president from 1999 to 2005.
Prosecutors alleged he received bribes from various sources, not just Thales, between 1995 and 2005. During those years, he progressed from provincial politician to deputy president of the ruling African National Congress party, and then deputy president of the country.
Thales is also facing charges at the trial and pleaded not guilty to racketeering and money laundering.
Prosecutors said Zuma and Thales were involved in what was effectively an organised criminal enterprise between 1995 and 2001.
He agreed to accept annual payments of around 40,000 dollars from Thales, prosecutors alleged, in return for “political protection” and ensuring there was no investigation into a major arms deal Thales secured with the South African government. The deal was signed in 1999 while clouded by allegations of corruption.
Zuma was first formally implicated by prosecutors over the deal in 2005 and fired as deputy president as a result. The charges were dropped and reinstated numerous times over the next 13 years amid allegations of political interference.
Meanwhile, he revived his political career to become president four years after being fired as deputy president.
The charges were reinstated by the National Prosecuting Authority in 2018 and Zuma finally answered to them on Wednesday in a courthouse in the eastern city of Pietermaritzburg, 16 years after he was first linked to the case.
In the indictment, prosecutors provided a list of 791 payments made either directly to Zuma’s bank accounts or to others for services on behalf of Zuma between October 1995 and June 2005.
The money came from companies connected to Zuma’s former financial adviser, who was convicted of corruption in 2005. The adviser is accused of soliciting bribes for Zuma from Thales and being the go-between, but also of bribing Zuma for his own business interests.
Some of the payments were for as little as 7 dollars and others for as much as 28,000 dollars. They were listed in bank records as “Zuma family costs”, “Zuma children education” and “Zuma household costs”, among other descriptions, prosecutors said.
They totalled nearly 300,000 dollars. It was unclear if those payments included any of the alleged bribes from Thales.
