OREANDA-NEWS. A court in South Africa has ruled that former president Jacob Zuma must return to prison, SABCNews reported.

The Pretoria High Court found that Zuma's parole decision on medical grounds was illegal. The decision was taken against the recommendations of the parole board.

The time Zuma spent outside prison during his parole will not count towards his sentence, Times Live reported.

In June, a court sent Jacob Zuma to jail for 15 months for contempt of court. This came after Zuma failed to appear before a special commission on the corruption case against him.

The former president was charged with a total of 700 counts of fraud and money laundering. They all date back to his time in power. Zuma is also being investigated separately for a warship deal Thales struck with the South African government. Zuma is suspected to have accepted a bribe of R500 000 ($30 000) per annum from the company in return for patronage.

Zuma himself has denied all charges and Thales has also pleaded not guilty.

In September the former president was released on parole due to illness.

Zuma led South Africa from 2009 to 2018. He resigned in 2018 under pressure from the ruling party amid a protracted political crisis and corruption scandals. Cyrille Ramaphosa, an associate of Nelson Mandella, became president.