he needed much more than his salary from that position to make up for the time he spent fighting. Schabir Shaik, a member of the wealthy and important Shaik family of Durban, proved to be important in reestablishing Zuma's life. They had a profitable and discreet business relationship, which was only visible in a few unusual and incomplete documents and contracts, most of which were undated, and some were signed in the wrong places. Almost every document dealt with interest-free loans with no specified date of repayment. In 1999, Shaik wrote all the loans off without any explanation. Shaik, who was Zuma's financial advisor at the time, knew that Zuma could never afford to repay the sum of the loans on his salary. He also knew, since he had access to all of Zuma's financial records, about unpaid home loans, an overdraft of 66,500 Rand (US$10,200) in an account with Nedbank, one of South Africa's largest banks, another debt owed to Wesbank, and more money borrowed but not owed yet to Permanent Bank and Standard Bank. He knew that every month Zuma spent more money than his salary, and that he was writing bad cheques and failing to meet debit card payments. Shaik did not expect to be paid back, however, as he was buying influence with Zuma, which was used to win government contracts for his company, Nkobi Holdings. Through a series of share transactions, Nkobi Holdings merged with the French company Thomson-CSF, one of the largest arms companies in the world. On 21 May 1996, Thomson Holdings, the name of the newly merged corporations and now a South African company, was established. The first joint ventures Thomson made bids for were not for arms: instead, they made bids for an upgrade to Durban International Airport, a new ID Card for South African citizens, expansions to the N3 and N4, a new mobile phone network, and new smart card technologies. Arms deal Thomson Holdings, through its South African subsidiary, was seeking influence in government circles in this period, as the change from the National Party government to the ANC government had left it with few influential friends. To get an arms contract, it would need strong political backing. Fortunately for Shaik, his brother, Chippy, was in charge of arms acquisition at the Department of Defence. Chippy indicated that he would facilitate matters for Thomson Holdings if its 'position' regarding