Former Fidentia boss J Arthur Brown will soon know whether his misrepresentations in business dealings amount to fraud.
|||Cape Town - Former Fidentia boss J Arthur Brown will soon know whether his misrepresentations in business dealings amount to fraud, a Western Cape High Court judge said on Wednesday.
Judge Anton Veldhuizen accepted an altered admissions document Brown made in relation to two fraud counts, and said he would pass judgment on Thursday morning.
The court initially expressed concern that the admissions on count six, which related to the Mantadia Asset Trust Company (Matco), were not strong enough for conviction.
Brown said he had made the admissions to “bring an end to the trial”.
His lawyer was given time to sit with him, and the altered admissions were handed to Veldhuizen for consideration on Tuesday.
Brown initially admitted that Fidentia did not have enough liquid cash at the time of purchase, but that it had enough assets in the form of negotiable instruments.
He also admitted that Fidentia had misrepresented itself by saying the full purchase price for Matco would be paid before it took control.
The admission statement handed up on Wednesday included the terms of the purchase agreement and made it clear that the purchaser had to have “immediately available funds”.
“Fidentia and I misrepresented that Fidentia was able to do so and thereby induced the shareholders of Matco to enter into the agreement and sell their shares to Fidentia,” Brown said in the altered document.
He admitted that Fidentia took control of Matco in October 2004, before full payment was made to all shareholders, contradictory to the terms of the agreement.
Accepting personal responsibility, he said he ordered the transfer of R69 million from the Matco account to Fidentia, which would later be used to pay the remainder of the Matco purchase price.
“The above actions amounted to a misrepresentation of the true facts in respect of the sale of share agreement and the method and time of payment.... My actions were unlawful and constituted fraud by way of dolus eventualis (indirect intent).”
The State confirmed there would be acquittal on counts three, four, five, seven, eight, and nine, which relate to the Transport Education and Training Authority, Thaba Manzi, Infinity, and Antheru.
The charges were corruption, money-laundering, theft, and fraud.
Veldhuizen said arguments in aggravation and mitigation of sentence would be heard on April 29. - Sapa