Judge Hilary Squires, who sentenced Schabir Shaik to 15 years in prison for corruption and fraud, says he never found a "generally corrupt relationship" between the controversial businessman and former deputy president Jacob Zuma.
This is according to a report published in The Weekender, A Business Day publication, this weekend.
The Supreme Court of Appeal attributed the phrase to Squires in its judgment upholding Shaik's corruption and fraud convictions last week.
Squires has written a letter to Business Day pointing out the error.
"If you have never read the judgment delivered in that case, may I suggest that you do so. I can find no such mention of my having made any such comment. If you have already read the judgment, and in it this phrase 'a generally corrupt relationship,' occurs, I would be grateful if you would advise me of the page and line number in which the statement appears," Squires wrote to the newspaper.
In his letter Squires says it was not possible during the trial to make any finding on the nature of the relationship between the two men, since Zuma was not on trial.
In his letter Squires attributed the phrase to the prosecution, saying that the court itself never endorsed the state's characterisation of the Shaik-Zuma relationship. - Sapa