Schabir Shaik arrested

Convicted fraudster Schabir Shaik has been arrested, Correctional Services Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said on Monday.

She told Eyewitness News: "He did not hand himself over. Correctional officers went and picked him up from his house."

Shaik, whose release on medical parole caused a major outcry in 2009, was taken to the Durban Westville Prison.

"Mr Schabir Shaik has been booked in at the Westville Correctional facility. We took a decision last night," the minister said.

At the weekend, the Sunday Times reported Shaik hit a man, Mohamed Ismail, outside a mosque in Durban. He had apparently parked in the man, who was trying to get to his daughter in hospital. Shaik reportedly punched the man in an altercation.

The police are already investigating Shaik for allegedly choking and slapping a Sunday Tribune reporter on a golf course about two weeks ago.

Shaik was released on medical parole in March 2009. Opposition parties questioned whether he really was "terminally ill".

In 2005 he was convicted of fraud and corruption and sent to jail for 15 years. The current president, Jacob Zuma, at the time was axed as deputy president following Shaik's conviction. Shaik was Zuma's financial adviser.

Shaik served only two years and four months of his 15-year term. He was released on medical parole shortly before Zuma became president.