FLASH: Ex-South Africa president Jacob Zuma to face 18 corruption charges

Former South Africa president, Jacob Zuma will face 18 corruption charges

South Africa’s former President, Jacob Zuma, is to face prosecution for 18 charges of corruption, the director of public prosecutions has confirmed.

They include more than 700 counts of fraud, racketeering and money laundering. He denies the charges.

Mr Zuma, 75, was forced to resign as president last month by his party, the ruling African National Congress (ANC).

He was facing his ninth no-confidence vote in parliament before he left office.

The charges against Mr Zuma relate to a 30bn rand ($2.5bn; £1.7bn) government arms deal in the late 1990s, before he became president.

Zuma’s corruption charges: A brief history

• First filed in 2005 when Mr Zuma’s financial adviser, Schabir Shaik, was jailed for fraud and corruption.
• Mr Zuma went on trial in 2006 but the case collapsed when the prosecution said it was not ready to proceed more than a year after he was charged.
• South Africa’s National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) controversially dropped the charges in 2009, shortly before he won the presidency.
• Political opponents campaigned tirelessly for him to face trial.
• South Africa’s High Court reinstated the charges in 2016 and Mr Zuma lost a Supreme Court appeal to overturn them.
• The country’s chief prosecutor, Shaun Abrahams, has now decided to pursue a case against the former president.

Mr Zuma weathered an array of corruption allegations during his nine years in power.

In 2016, a report by South Africa’s anti-corruption watchdog alleged that the billionaire Gupta family had exploited their ties with him to win state contracts.

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Both the Guptas and Mr Zuma deny any wrongdoing.

The same year, South Africa’s highest court ruled that Mr Zuma had violated the constitution when he failed to repay government money spent on his private home.

An anti-corruption body found he had spent $23m (£15m) on refurbishments including a swimming pool and an amphitheatre. He has since repaid some of the money.