The R200-million fraud case against former Fidentia head Arthur Brown and Dr Piet Bothma has been transferred to the Cape Town Regional Court so a trial date can be arranged. Brown appeared briefly in the Cape Town Magistrate's Court on Friday, without Bothma. Brown has brought a High Court application for a temporary stay of prosecution until the finalisation of the investigation against him, but it will be heard only in mid-November.
Brown wants three separate fraud cases against him to be combined so he can be charged from one charge sheet and in one court. But Marco Martini, Bothma's lawyer, argued that this would further prejudice his client, who has had to fly repeatedly from Joburg to attend court proceedings in Cape Town.
Bothma is the former Transport, Education and Training Authority head. State advocate Jan van Vuuren, SC, asked on Friday that a warrant of arrest for Bothma be authorised, but held over until the next court date in two months. Van Vuuren said the State received a letter from Martini's office reiterating that Bothma was being discriminated against, and said the State would, by the next date, determine whether the case against Bothma and Brown should be separated, and whether Bothma would be tried in Joburg.
Brown, who is out on R1-million bail, faces several criminal charges in connection with the alleged misappropriation of funds meant for widows and orphans of mineworkers who invested with Fidentia. A regional court case - in which Brown is alleged to have transferred R4,5m from mining supply company Fundi's account - and moved more than R5m from the loyalty card operation Infinity to his own account and that of close business associate Graham Maddock, is set to go to trial in September next year. In another case, Brown and investor Jacobus Theart, accused of fraud and theft of R800 000 from private investment company Antheru, are expected to appear in the magistrate's court early next month.
The case involving Brown and Bothma was postponed to November 23.
Showing posts with label Piet Bothma. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Piet Bothma. Show all posts
Monday, September 21, 2009
Monday, April 20, 2009
Fidentia's Goodwin goes to jail
A key figure in the Fidentia saga, Steve Goodwin, has been convicted of fraud and corruption, and of money laundering involving about R93m. In terms of a plea agreement endorsed by the Cape High Court on Monday morning, he has been sentenced to an effective 10 years in jail. Part of the deal is that he will testify in criminal proceedings against his former associate, ex-Fidentia boss Arthur Brown.
Goodwin, a broker, fled to Australia in early 2007, shortly before the Scorpions began probing the Fidentia affair. He was arrested by the FBI at Los Angeles airport in the United States in April last year, and launched a protracted legal challenge - which he lost - to the extradition agreement between the US and South Africa. When he appeared before acting Cape judge president Jeanette Traverso on Monday morning, prosecutor Jannie van Vuuren said Goodwin had agreed to return voluntarily, and had waived his rights in terms of formal extradition proceedings.
The bespectacled Goodwin, sporting a bushy black beard and wearing a white shirt with no tie or jacket, was brought into the courtroom in handcuffs. He answered "I do, your honour," when Traverso asked him if he understood the terms of the 12-page agreement. She sentenced him to 20 years jail on one count of fraud, of which 10 years was conditionally suspended for five years.
On two counts of corruption, he was sentenced to one jail term of 15 years, of which five were suspended. On 33 counts of money-laundering, he was sentenced to one term of 15 years, of which seven was suspended. Traverso said the corruption and laundering sentences would run concurrently with the fraud. The 12 months he had spent in a US detention centre since April 7 would be subtracted from the jail time, she said. One of the conditions of the suspensions is that he testify against Brown, who is facing a range of fraud and theft charges.
According to the agreement, Goodwin played a key role in getting the Transport Sector Education and Training Authority (Teta) to transfer investments to Fidentia's control. To do this, he paid former Teta chief executive Piet Bothma bribes totalling R4.6m, which were disguised first as commission payments, then as a sale of shares in a shell company that had no assets. Although the plea agreement does not mention the amount of the investments, according to other prosecution documents it involved promissory notes worth just over R100m, which Fidentia then sold off to pay personal and company expenses and creditors. According to the agreement, Goodwin himself got about R32m of the Teta funds as his own share of the loot. To disguise what had happened, he complied fictitious monthly statements for the benefit of the Teta board, showing what the funds would have been at prevailing interest rates. The money laundering charge involved the flow of this cash through bank accounts controlled by Goodwin or companies he owned,including Worthytrade and Intaband. "To facilitate the aforementioned theft, and corrupt payments, devices were created and measures were taken to disguise the origin, nature and destination of monies," the agreement read.
It said though Goodwin had not been employed by Brown's Fidentia Asset Management, or privy to its internal arrangements, he had suspected a theft had taken place. "He was not aware at the time of the exact nature, quantum and source of the funds that are the subject matter of the theft. "He accepts that an amount of approximately R93m was laundered by him." In terms of the agreement, Goodwin would co-operate fully with prosecutors on the Fidentia investigation, assist Fidentia's curators "in their restitution efforts", and assist investigators in tracing the missing funds.
National Prosecuting Authority spokesman Tlali Tlali said outside the court afterwards that the state was "very pleased" with the outcome of the matter. "We are talking about a situation that involves acts of criminality that hit the hardest on the poorest of the poor," he said. Investigators were still pursuing "other legs of the investigation". "Hopefully soon we'll still be in court again, because we have other outstanding investigations that have to be concluded in terms of two other suspects."
Former Fidentia director and accountant Graham Maddock last year began a seven year jail sentence after pleading guilty to theft and money laundering. Prosecutors have also charged Teta's Bothma and broker Jacobus Theart. Though he is challenging the charges in the Cape High Court, Brown has been involved in plea bargain talks.
Source: News 24
Goodwin, a broker, fled to Australia in early 2007, shortly before the Scorpions began probing the Fidentia affair. He was arrested by the FBI at Los Angeles airport in the United States in April last year, and launched a protracted legal challenge - which he lost - to the extradition agreement between the US and South Africa. When he appeared before acting Cape judge president Jeanette Traverso on Monday morning, prosecutor Jannie van Vuuren said Goodwin had agreed to return voluntarily, and had waived his rights in terms of formal extradition proceedings.
The bespectacled Goodwin, sporting a bushy black beard and wearing a white shirt with no tie or jacket, was brought into the courtroom in handcuffs. He answered "I do, your honour," when Traverso asked him if he understood the terms of the 12-page agreement. She sentenced him to 20 years jail on one count of fraud, of which 10 years was conditionally suspended for five years.
On two counts of corruption, he was sentenced to one jail term of 15 years, of which five were suspended. On 33 counts of money-laundering, he was sentenced to one term of 15 years, of which seven was suspended. Traverso said the corruption and laundering sentences would run concurrently with the fraud. The 12 months he had spent in a US detention centre since April 7 would be subtracted from the jail time, she said. One of the conditions of the suspensions is that he testify against Brown, who is facing a range of fraud and theft charges.
According to the agreement, Goodwin played a key role in getting the Transport Sector Education and Training Authority (Teta) to transfer investments to Fidentia's control. To do this, he paid former Teta chief executive Piet Bothma bribes totalling R4.6m, which were disguised first as commission payments, then as a sale of shares in a shell company that had no assets. Although the plea agreement does not mention the amount of the investments, according to other prosecution documents it involved promissory notes worth just over R100m, which Fidentia then sold off to pay personal and company expenses and creditors. According to the agreement, Goodwin himself got about R32m of the Teta funds as his own share of the loot. To disguise what had happened, he complied fictitious monthly statements for the benefit of the Teta board, showing what the funds would have been at prevailing interest rates. The money laundering charge involved the flow of this cash through bank accounts controlled by Goodwin or companies he owned,including Worthytrade and Intaband. "To facilitate the aforementioned theft, and corrupt payments, devices were created and measures were taken to disguise the origin, nature and destination of monies," the agreement read.
It said though Goodwin had not been employed by Brown's Fidentia Asset Management, or privy to its internal arrangements, he had suspected a theft had taken place. "He was not aware at the time of the exact nature, quantum and source of the funds that are the subject matter of the theft. "He accepts that an amount of approximately R93m was laundered by him." In terms of the agreement, Goodwin would co-operate fully with prosecutors on the Fidentia investigation, assist Fidentia's curators "in their restitution efforts", and assist investigators in tracing the missing funds.
National Prosecuting Authority spokesman Tlali Tlali said outside the court afterwards that the state was "very pleased" with the outcome of the matter. "We are talking about a situation that involves acts of criminality that hit the hardest on the poorest of the poor," he said. Investigators were still pursuing "other legs of the investigation". "Hopefully soon we'll still be in court again, because we have other outstanding investigations that have to be concluded in terms of two other suspects."
Former Fidentia director and accountant Graham Maddock last year began a seven year jail sentence after pleading guilty to theft and money laundering. Prosecutors have also charged Teta's Bothma and broker Jacobus Theart. Though he is challenging the charges in the Cape High Court, Brown has been involved in plea bargain talks.
Source: News 24
Friday, August 31, 2007
Fidentia trio in court again
Piet Bothma, the suspended chief executive of the Transport Education Training Authority, appeared in the Cape Town Magistrate's Court in connection with the Fidentia saga. It was Bothma's second court appearance. He was recently arrested as a third suspect in the affair.
Bothma was in the dock with Fidentia chief executive J Arthur Brown, and the company's former financial director, Graham Maddock, both of whom were arrested in March. Bothma was arrested on August 6, after he had flown to Cape Town with his attorney, Marco Martini, to surrender himself to the Scorpions.
The three appeared before magistrate Jesthree Steyn who, at the request of Scorpions senior counsel Bruce Morrison, postponed the case to February 12 next year. Morrison told the court the long postponement was needed to finalise the investigation, and to prepare the charge sheet. Attorney William Booth, who represents Brown, told the court he had no objection to the postponement, despite having at the previous hearing in May reserved the right to object to any further postponements for further investigation. Booth told the court: "Last time, I noted that I would object to any further postponement, requested by the State, for the purpose of finalising the investigation.
"I also said I would object if the defence had not at the present proceedings been furnished with the charge sheet. "I agree to the postponement to next year, but reserve the defence's rights to object if at the next hearing the defence has not yet been furnished with the charge sheet and other documents." Maddock was represented by attorney Cesare Baartman, who said he too would object if a further postponement was requested in February.
Technically, if the State again requests a postponement in February for further investigation, the defence will have the right to demand that the case be removed from the roll. If the case is then removed from the roll, it will amount to the withdrawal of charges, and the three will step out of the dock free men. The magistrate extended their bail: R1m in respect of Brown and Maddock, and R200 000 in respect of Bothma.
Source: News 24
Bothma was in the dock with Fidentia chief executive J Arthur Brown, and the company's former financial director, Graham Maddock, both of whom were arrested in March. Bothma was arrested on August 6, after he had flown to Cape Town with his attorney, Marco Martini, to surrender himself to the Scorpions.
The three appeared before magistrate Jesthree Steyn who, at the request of Scorpions senior counsel Bruce Morrison, postponed the case to February 12 next year. Morrison told the court the long postponement was needed to finalise the investigation, and to prepare the charge sheet. Attorney William Booth, who represents Brown, told the court he had no objection to the postponement, despite having at the previous hearing in May reserved the right to object to any further postponements for further investigation. Booth told the court: "Last time, I noted that I would object to any further postponement, requested by the State, for the purpose of finalising the investigation.
"I also said I would object if the defence had not at the present proceedings been furnished with the charge sheet. "I agree to the postponement to next year, but reserve the defence's rights to object if at the next hearing the defence has not yet been furnished with the charge sheet and other documents." Maddock was represented by attorney Cesare Baartman, who said he too would object if a further postponement was requested in February.
Technically, if the State again requests a postponement in February for further investigation, the defence will have the right to demand that the case be removed from the roll. If the case is then removed from the roll, it will amount to the withdrawal of charges, and the three will step out of the dock free men. The magistrate extended their bail: R1m in respect of Brown and Maddock, and R200 000 in respect of Bothma.
Source: News 24
Monday, August 6, 2007
Suspended Teta boss arrested
The suspended chief executive of the Transport Education Training Authority (Teta), Piet Bothma, has become the third person to be arrested in connection with the Fidentia affair. He appeared briefly in the Cape Town Magistrate's Court on Monday where he was released on R200 000 bail. Bothma has been charged with fraud and theft, and with corruption involving alleged kickbacks of just under R5m. He had earlier in the day flown down from Johannesburg with his attorney to report to the Scorpions' office in the city centre, where he was formally arrested.
Fidentia boss J Arthur Brown and financial director Graham Maddock were arrested in March, and are out on bail of R1m each.
Bothma was suspended from his Teta post in June. The State claims under the theft and fraud charges that he was part of a conspiracy with Brown, Maddock "and/or others" with regard to R200m that Teta invested with Fidentia Asset Management, now under curatorship. The corruption relates to an allegation that he got just under R5 million in unlawful kickbacks in the process. His attorney, Marco Martini, said neither he nor Bothma had any comment at this stage. "At this stage we're waiting to see a formal charge sheet," he said. Bothma will be in the dock alongside Brown and Maddock at their next court appearance on August 31.
Scorpions prosecutor Bruce Morrisson told the court the State did not object to bail, and that the amount had been agreed on by the State and defence. He said Bothma had co-operated with the Scorpions over his arrest, and had at the time of his arrest not given any false information. As part of his bail conditions, Bothma has been ordered to surrender all travel documents, and to seek Scorpions permission if he wants to leave South Africa. He has also been barred from communicating with any Teta board members, officials or employees. It is understood that the Scorpions are hoping to make further arrests in the case.
Source: News 24
Fidentia boss J Arthur Brown and financial director Graham Maddock were arrested in March, and are out on bail of R1m each.
Bothma was suspended from his Teta post in June. The State claims under the theft and fraud charges that he was part of a conspiracy with Brown, Maddock "and/or others" with regard to R200m that Teta invested with Fidentia Asset Management, now under curatorship. The corruption relates to an allegation that he got just under R5 million in unlawful kickbacks in the process. His attorney, Marco Martini, said neither he nor Bothma had any comment at this stage. "At this stage we're waiting to see a formal charge sheet," he said. Bothma will be in the dock alongside Brown and Maddock at their next court appearance on August 31.
Scorpions prosecutor Bruce Morrisson told the court the State did not object to bail, and that the amount had been agreed on by the State and defence. He said Bothma had co-operated with the Scorpions over his arrest, and had at the time of his arrest not given any false information. As part of his bail conditions, Bothma has been ordered to surrender all travel documents, and to seek Scorpions permission if he wants to leave South Africa. He has also been barred from communicating with any Teta board members, officials or employees. It is understood that the Scorpions are hoping to make further arrests in the case.
Source: News 24
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Fidentia victims mounting
The head of the Transport Education and Training Authority (Teta), Piet Bothma, has been placed on "compulsory leave" following a probe into his role in placing R246m of the body's funds with Fidentia, Business Day reported on Tuesday. Teta, a quasi-government body which collects skills levies from 10 000 transport firms, pumped R246m - nearly 75% of all its funds - into Fidentia, despite the company's almost non-existent track record.
Investigators now say this cash has been "misappropriated". This is likely to shed new light on exactly why Teta placed so much money with Fidentia, especially after it emerged that its first R88m investment in Fidentia took place without a proper risk assessment. It also adds to a list of casualties that has already seen Danisa Baloyi resign all her public positions because of the uproar at her conflict of interest in being a Fidentia shareholder and trustee of the Living Hands Trust, which poured R1.47bn into Fidentia. The links between Bothma and Fidentia, which have remained buried until now, are likely to emerge in the Teta probe.
Source: News 24
Investigators now say this cash has been "misappropriated". This is likely to shed new light on exactly why Teta placed so much money with Fidentia, especially after it emerged that its first R88m investment in Fidentia took place without a proper risk assessment. It also adds to a list of casualties that has already seen Danisa Baloyi resign all her public positions because of the uproar at her conflict of interest in being a Fidentia shareholder and trustee of the Living Hands Trust, which poured R1.47bn into Fidentia. The links between Bothma and Fidentia, which have remained buried until now, are likely to emerge in the Teta probe.
Source: News 24
Wednesday, February 7, 2007
Fidentia investment 'reckless'
The labour department has been urged to investigate the investment strategies of all sectoral training authorities after the Transport Education Training Authority (Teta) told the Standing Committee on Public Accounts on Wednesday that it had made a R250m investment in Fidentia on the advice of its lawyers.
The hearing by the National Assembly Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) saw Teta chief executive officer Piet Bothma being grilled by the committee chairperson Themba Godi, a Pan Africanist Congress Member of Parliament, and African National Congress MPs Pierre-Jean Gerber and Vincent Smith. Godi said the department should investigate the matter as "someone should be responsible for this mess" - referring to the report by the Financial Services Board that the Teta was unlikely to get its investment back from Fidentia - a black empowerment firm that has been placed under curatorship. Smith described the affair as "a seriously deficient investment strategy" on the part of Teta, while Gerber described the investment as "reckless". Gerber - who led the charge by MPs in the public finance watchdog committee - asked how it was that an investment of "a quarter of a billion rand" of public money had been made only on the advice of a company of lawyers - identified as SAB&T legal services.
Bothma replied: "We went through reference checks on the company and its directors and got legal advice on the mandate requested by Fidentia. There were checks and balances built in." Smith said that Setas were supposed to be "cost centres" and not investment or profit making institutions and suggested that it would be "crazy" if all 16 Setas had so much money on average available for investment. "Something is terribly wrong," he said. Gerber asked how the investment in Fidentia came about. "The name of the firm Fidentia didn't fall out of the air like a mosquito?" he charged. Bothma said the authority had been approached by Fidentia in "a marketing exercise". "After we looked at the proposal made... we went through reference checks on the company and its directors and got legal advice on the mandate requested by Fidentia," said Bothma.
Godi noted that what had been chosen was a newly established company and it appeared that the Teta had verified its business with Fidentia either without really looking at the detail or being caught out by the advice sought from the legal company. He posed the question why when doing a risk analysis the question of the company's track record had not been an issue.
Bothma said although there now "appeared to be gaps in that situation" the bottom line was that Teta had procured "an excellent company" - SAB&T - "that was given a mandate to do certain verifications and checks and balances". He noted that SAB&T had gone through a "three-quotation" process for this job. "They also at that stage (nearly four years ago) did work for us verifying contracts that we do for discretionary grants," he said. It emerged in the committee discussion that Fidentia offered Teta 10.5% interest on their 50-day investment against 8% from Standard Bank and Absa's 8.05%. Bothma said that Teta had last year requested a withdrawal of its funds in Fidentia - following the FSB investigation.
Godi said it appeared from the Teta's actions that it swung from "one extreme to the other" - first entrusting "such a large amount of money" in Fidentia and then suddenly after the investigation wanting to withdraw "all your monies". "This does suggest that at no point did you apply your mind," said the committee chairman.
The FSB report last week noted that it was its analysis that some R689m of some R1.5bn invested with Fidentia could not be accounted for.
Source: News 24
The hearing by the National Assembly Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) saw Teta chief executive officer Piet Bothma being grilled by the committee chairperson Themba Godi, a Pan Africanist Congress Member of Parliament, and African National Congress MPs Pierre-Jean Gerber and Vincent Smith. Godi said the department should investigate the matter as "someone should be responsible for this mess" - referring to the report by the Financial Services Board that the Teta was unlikely to get its investment back from Fidentia - a black empowerment firm that has been placed under curatorship. Smith described the affair as "a seriously deficient investment strategy" on the part of Teta, while Gerber described the investment as "reckless". Gerber - who led the charge by MPs in the public finance watchdog committee - asked how it was that an investment of "a quarter of a billion rand" of public money had been made only on the advice of a company of lawyers - identified as SAB&T legal services.
Bothma replied: "We went through reference checks on the company and its directors and got legal advice on the mandate requested by Fidentia. There were checks and balances built in." Smith said that Setas were supposed to be "cost centres" and not investment or profit making institutions and suggested that it would be "crazy" if all 16 Setas had so much money on average available for investment. "Something is terribly wrong," he said. Gerber asked how the investment in Fidentia came about. "The name of the firm Fidentia didn't fall out of the air like a mosquito?" he charged. Bothma said the authority had been approached by Fidentia in "a marketing exercise". "After we looked at the proposal made... we went through reference checks on the company and its directors and got legal advice on the mandate requested by Fidentia," said Bothma.
Godi noted that what had been chosen was a newly established company and it appeared that the Teta had verified its business with Fidentia either without really looking at the detail or being caught out by the advice sought from the legal company. He posed the question why when doing a risk analysis the question of the company's track record had not been an issue.
Bothma said although there now "appeared to be gaps in that situation" the bottom line was that Teta had procured "an excellent company" - SAB&T - "that was given a mandate to do certain verifications and checks and balances". He noted that SAB&T had gone through a "three-quotation" process for this job. "They also at that stage (nearly four years ago) did work for us verifying contracts that we do for discretionary grants," he said. It emerged in the committee discussion that Fidentia offered Teta 10.5% interest on their 50-day investment against 8% from Standard Bank and Absa's 8.05%. Bothma said that Teta had last year requested a withdrawal of its funds in Fidentia - following the FSB investigation.
Godi said it appeared from the Teta's actions that it swung from "one extreme to the other" - first entrusting "such a large amount of money" in Fidentia and then suddenly after the investigation wanting to withdraw "all your monies". "This does suggest that at no point did you apply your mind," said the committee chairman.
The FSB report last week noted that it was its analysis that some R689m of some R1.5bn invested with Fidentia could not be accounted for.
Source: News 24
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