higher the status of the beneficiary, the more serious the offence. Judge Squires found Shaik guilty of a generally corrupt relationship with Zuma and for soliciting a bribe for Zuma from Thomson-CSF. He was also found guilty of fraud for irregularly writing off loans from the books of Nkobi Group. Judge Squires dismissed Shaik's anti-apartheid "struggle credentials", saying what he had sought to achieve was exactly the same as the apartheid regime's "command of the economy" by a privileged few, which is exactly what the struggle had sought to replace. The judge sentenced Shaik to the minimum prescribed sentence of 15 years on each of the corruption counts. Shaik was sentenced to three years for fraud; however, Judge Squires said he found mitigating circumstances for not imposing the same minimum penalty for the fraud charge, as Shaik had not been the instigator and the crime had no adverse effect on any other party. Judge Squires ordered that the three sentences run concurrently and described Shaik as a man with commendable vision, ambition, and energy, but one who appears to have lost his moral compass and scruples. The judge also imposed a series of fines on 10 companies related to the Nkobi Group. Concluding the sentencing proceedings, Squires said: "I do not think I am overstating anything when I say that this phenomenon [of corruption] can truly be likened to a cancer eating away remorselessly at the fabric of corporate privacy and extending its baleful effect into all aspects of administrative functions, whether state official or private sector manager. If it is not checked, it becomes systemic. And the after-effects of systemic corruption can quite readily extend to the corrosion of any confidence in the integrity of anyone who has a duty to discharge, especially a duty to discharge to the public." "One can hopefully discount the prospect of it happening in this country, but it is that sort of increasing disaffection which leads and has led on other parts of our continent and elsewhere to coups d'état or the rise of populace leaders who in turn manipulate politics for even greater private benefit ... This is the last step in a thousand mile journey." Shaik immediately announced his intentions to appeal the sentence, and Judge Squires set aside 26 July as the date of a hearing for Shaik's leave to appeal. Fallout The political nature of the trial prompted immediate