Former South African President Jacob Zuma will be charged with 16 counts of corruption which includes fraud, money laundering and racketeering, CNN reports. Shaun Abrahams, the national director of public prosecutions, announced the charges on Friday.

Zuma, 75, faced corruption charges as deputy president in 2005, which he denied, The Guardian reported. Those charges were controversially dropped in 2009, the year he was later elected president. The recent charges refer to alleged corruption involving an approximate $2.5 billion deal made in the 1990s, Al Jazeera reported.

Former South African President Jacob Zuma will face prosecution on corruption charges following series of scandals that led to his resignation https://t.co/cSO9AcKhNq
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"After consideration of the matter, I am of the view that there are reasonable prospects of successful prosecution of Mr Zuma on the charges listed in the indictment," Abrahams said according to Al Jazeera.

Zuma, who earned the nickname "Teflon president" for effectively surviving a number of scandals, resigned from his position as president last month after calls for his resignation from his own party.

In October 2017, South Africa's Supreme Court of Appeal upheld a High Court ruling to reinstate corruption charges against Zuma before he was elected president in 2009.

Jacob Zuma

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