Cape Town - Claims that curators of the asset management company Fidentia stole investors’ money were “utter rubbish”, according to Dines Gihwala, one of the curators.
He was speaking after former Fidentia boss J Arthur Brown was fined R150 000 (or 36 months in jail) and received an additional three-year suspended jail term for two counts of fraud.
“Utter rubbish, that’s all I can tell you,” Gihwala said about claims that the curators stole money from mineworkers, widows and orphans.
After Brown was sentenced by Western Cape High Court Judge Anton Veldhuizen, a group of beneficiaries waited outside for three hours for Brown to be released. They cheered and hugged Brown after he had paid his fine and walked out of the building.
They said they believed Gihwala and fellow curator George Papadakis had the money, and that Brown would help them get it back.
Addressing the media outside court, Brown said: “I’ve made a promise to these people. They’ve seen what the truth is and now the job needs to get done - and until that’s done, I’m not going to rest.”
He said he would pursue criminal charges, civil actions and do forensic audits to recover the lost money.
Gihwala responded: “They must do what they must do. They’ve tried several court actions, which he lost with costs.”
Asked whether the investors had been paid, Gihwala referred the newspaper to Wilma Lubbe, a trustee of the Living Hands Umbrella Trust, who is responsible for the funds of mineworkers, widows and orphans.
Brown was convicted of fraud related to misrepresentations he made when Fidentia handled investments for the Transport Education and Training Authority and the Mantadia Asset Trust Company, formerly Living Hands.
Living Hands told the Cape Argus that questions as to whether the curators had paid the trust and whether the money was in turn paid to the beneficiaries had been “forwarded to the trustees for their attention”.
The trustees of the Living Hands Umbrella Trust said they were “appalled” at the sentence imposed on Brown.
“The trustees are appalled, on behalf of the beneficiaries, that the criminal justice system has failed widows and orphans who are suffering, and have been for years.”
Gihwala said litigation regarding Fidentia’s assets, which included the sale of the Sante Hotel Resort & Spa in the Franschhoek Valley and land in Blue Horizon Bay, was still pending.
Money gained from the sale would be used for costs incurred and once those had been deducted, it would be distributed to the people who had invested with Fidentia, Gihwala said.
Cape Argus