Fidentia CE J Arthur Brown was on Thursday late for a scheduled appearance in the Cape Town Magistrate's Court, on charges that include fraud involving the Transport, Education and Training Authority (Teta). In the dock without him were co-accused Dr Piet Bothma, Teta's CE, and a newcomer, Jacobus Theart, who is cited in the charge sheet as accused number three.
Scorpions prosecutor Bruce Morrison SC, assisted by Tersia du Toit, told the court they had called the case earlier than expected, and that Brown was not at fault for his absence. He and Du Toit had tried without success to telephone Brown to get him to court sooner, they said. The case was postponed to July 29 in Brown's absence.
Morrison said the investigation was almost completed and that there were "just a few more things to be done". He said he envisaged an additional charge to the current charges of fraud, corruption, money laundering, reckless trading and a contravention of the Financial Intelligent Centre Act.
The fraud charge relating to Teta involves over R2m. Theart faces charges of theft involving R800,000 and money laundering. However, Morrison did not indicate to the court how Theart fitted into the picture. He said both the Cape Town and Randburg Courts had jurisdiction to deal with the case, and he would launch an application to centralize the charges -- so they could all be dealt with together in Cape Town.
In the Teta case, the trio are expected to eventually go on trial in the Cape High Court. Later, Brown alone stood in the dock of the Cape Town Regional Court, where he is to go on trial on September 15 on two charges of fraud, one of theft and one of violating the Companies Act.
These charges relate to his involvement with Fidentia. In these proceedings, Du Toit told magistrate Wilma van der Merwe that she had furnished defence attorney Asghar Mia with further particulars to the charges. At her request the case was postponed to May 30.
Source: Moneyweb
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