Brown ‘prepared’ to make admission

Independent Newspapers

Former Fidentia boss J Arthur Brown is seen at the Western Cape High Court. File photo: Courtney Africa

Cape Town - Former Fidentia CEO J Arthur Brown is prepared to admit that money flowed from his broker's bank account to certain beneficiaries and vice versa, the Western Cape High Court heard on Tuesday.

“My client is prepared to admit that as long as it's on the record that he had no knowledge of all the payments 1/8that were made 3/8,” his lawyer Braganza Pretorius said.

Brown is on trial for fraud, corruption, money-laundering and theft, and has pleaded not guilty to running a pyramid scheme and using investors' funds for personal gain.

Ex-broker Steven Goodwin had been on the stand testifying against Brown, regarding events surrounding the Transport, Education, and Training Authority (Teta), and Mantadia Asset Trust Company.

The same court previously found Goodwin guilty of bribing former Teta CEO Piet Bothma to facilitate the transfer of investments.

He also admitted to money-laundering, involving around R93 million, through two of his entities. He entered into a plea agreement in 2009 and was sentenced to in effect 10 years in jail.

The State had spent many days examining bank statements and other documents with Goodwin for the record, because Brown had refused to make admissions in this regard.

Judge Anton Veldhuizen called his lawyer out on Tuesday morning.

“I don't want to teach you your job... (but) the witness's evidence is that at some stage he informed your client 1/8Brown 3/8 he was making payments to Bothma. If you admit money flowed from this witness's account... that's black and white,” he said.

“That doesn't mean (however) that he's admitting to having knowledge of all payments.”

The court heard that a formal admission document was likely to be drawn up.

In the meantime, the State had consolidated Goodwin's statements into a 40-page file and read it out for the record.

The trial was postponed until Wednesday to allow Pretorius time to study the file. - Sapa