Businessman Schabir Shaik's payments to Deputy President Jacob Zuma were nothing less than bribery, and he used fabrications in the financial statements of the Nkobi group of companies to hide them, a former Nkobi employee told the Durban High Court this week. Former Nkobi financial manager Celia Bester took the stand, giving the first insider's view of the way the Nkobi group's finances were handled.