Several large Manila boxes had to be carried through the corridors of the Cape High Court to court No 17 where former National Party cabinet minister Abe Williams' trial on fraud, theft and corruption charges got under way on Monday.
Inside each of the boxes were seven volumes of annexures and exhibits with detailed information from an audit of Williams' three bank accounts and the transactions completed through each.
With this evidence, the state will present its case against Williams.
Williams appeared unperturbed as he sat in the dock. He pleaded not guilty to the charges against him - 35 counts of fraud, four of corruption and one of theft.
In the witness stand was chartered accountant Mike Savage - the author of the seven volumes and the first of about 70 state witnesses who are to testify against Williams.
Savage, head of Ernst & Young's forensic accounting unit, took all of 10 minutes to list his abundant credentials, which included a spell as assistant director of surveillance for the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.
He specialises in fraud detection and will attempt, with flow and pie charts, to dissect for the court the records of Williams' three bank accounts.
"The deposits to these accounts do not appear to have been paid out to a third party," Savage said.
The court heard on Monday that more than 200 witnesses were available, but that only between 60 and 70 would testify. Three months have been set aside to hear the case.
Williams was dressed in a heavy, dark-blue suit and sat in the dock taking notes. A solitary figure, he did not have supporters in the public gallery.
The 35 counts of fraud and one of theft against Williams relate to the alleged mismanagement of more than R400 000 he received between 1990 and 1996 for the upliftment of the West Coast community and the activities of what was then the National Party.
The Office for Serious Economic Offences (Oseo) alleges Williams did not use the money for the purposes intended.
The four counts of corruption relate to alleged "kickback" payments received by Williams.
Two of the corruption counts relate to two payments - R40 000 and R100 000 - received from Mercedes Information Technologies while Williams was Minister of Welfare.
It is alleged that in return he was expected to ensure that computer goods were bought from Unidate, part of the Mercedes group, for the extension of a literacy project.
The other two counts of corruption relate to two payments - R50 112 and R50 000 - Williams allegedly received from Michau Huisamen and his firm, Armsec Professional Services, in 1995. Oseo alleges that in return Williams was to have extended a contract to distribute pensions in the Western Cape, awarded to Nisec, to the Eastern Cape.
According to a summary of the case, Williams managed three cheque accounts, of which he was the sole signatory.
The first was a First National Bank account in his name and used for his salary and personal funds.
The second, at the then-Trust Bank, was in the name of the West Coast Community Development Fund. Donations from beneficiaries were paid into this account.
A Trust Bank Number Two account was opened in Williams' name and used to bank a deposit for a golf day.
The West Coast Classic Golf Tournament, staged in September 1995 in Langebaan, was funded by donations received by Williams.
The summary says that Williams sought donations, "under the pretext and banner of political ends and more specifically to improve welfare and to better the so-called coloured communities".
Williams is out on warning.
Judge Roger Cleaver presides, with Robert Martin and Henk Rubige as assessors. Frikkie Erasmus appears for Williams and Jannie van Vuuren represents the state.