Former president Jacob Zuma’s lawyers have demanded that the National Prosecuting Authority disclose whether the judge who had been presiding over his criminal trial until now was himself the subject of investigation by the Hawks.In a May 10 letter written to former KwaZulu-Natal prosecutions chief Moipone Noko, who has since been moved to a position in North West, Zuma’s lawyers say it has come to their attention that deputy judge president Mjabuliseni Madondo “may have been the subject of intimidation and/or attempts to prosecute him while he had become the judge presiding over this criminal trial”.They have asked the NPA whether anyone in the Hawks – or from the office of national director of public prosecutions Shamila Batohi – had asked that Madondo be investigated.They have also asked “whether the instruction to prosecute him had emanated from [a] source outside the NPA”.Madondo, through the office of the chief justice, said he had “only learnt of this allegation [that he was the subject of a criminal investigation on Monday]”.The Hawks did not respond to repeated requests for comment on whether Madondo had been the subject of a criminal investigation.NPA communications head Bulelwa Makeke confirmed that the “director of publicChange in the bench regarded as tamperingprosecutions received correspondence from [Zuma’s] lawyers and will respond”.Office of the Chief Justice spokesperson Nathi Mncube on Monday confirmed that Madondo would not be one of the three judges to hear arguments from Zuma and his corruption co-accused, French arms company Thales, for a permanent stay of the prosecution against them.“The deputy judge-president was never, at any point, appointed by judge-president Achmat Jappie to preside over the [Zuma/Thales] matter.”It had been decided that a full bench was needed to hear the Zuma/Thales matter.Among the judges who will decide Zuma’s fate is judge Bhekisisa Mnguni, who was quizzed about his relationship with the late Friends of Jacob Zuma Trust founder Don Mkhwanazi by EFF leader Julius Malema, during his unsuccessful April 2016 interview for the KwaZulu-Natal deputy judge president vacancy.Judges Esther Steyn and Thoba Poyo-Dlwati complete the panel.Zuma’s lawyers have expressed their unhappiness over the decision to appoint three judges to hear his application for a permanent stay of his corruption prosecution, which they argue is non-procedural.They regarded any change in the bench hearing Zuma’s case as an irregularity and tampering with an already constituted criminal court.