South Africa's Zuma to face corruption trial

Zuma denies any wrongdoing. Reuters file photo

South African former President Jacob Zuma will stand trial on corruption charges relating to a $2.5 billion arms deal after a high court denied him a permanent stay of prosecution on Friday.

Zuma, who was in office from 2009-2018, had applied for a permanent stay of prosecution from 16 charges of fraud, racketeering and money laundering relating to a deal to buy 30 billion rand of European military hardware for South Africa's armed forces in the late 1990s.

Zuma denies any wrongdoing.