Brown sentencing continues

Sentencing arguments for convicted fraudster former Fidentia boss J Arthur Brown will continue in the Western Cape High Court on Tuesday.

 

The cross-examination of Financial Services Board (FSB) chief financial officer Dawood Seedat will resume after the State called him as a witness in aggravation of sentencing. On Monday, the court heard that FSB started investigating Fidentia after receiving complaints of mismanagement of clients' funds from a former Fidentia employee. The investigation spanned from June 2006 to the end of January 2007, and included an inspection and interview with Brown. 

 

However, Braganza Pretorius, for Brown, said the FSB had not taken into account the correct inspection legislation, the definition of a financial services provider, and when Fidentia was licensed. Brown's defence closed its case in mitigation of sentence at his last court appearance on Thursday.  On April 18, Brown was found guilty on two counts of fraud relating to how he handled investments for the Transport Education and Training Authority and the Mantadia Asset Trust Company (Matco) between 2002 and 2006. 

 

On Thursday, Brown told the court he accepted he had done wrong and said he felt remorseful from when Fidentia was put under curatorship and he saw the consequences on people's lives. The biggest chunk of money that went missing from Fidentia was over R1 billion from the Living Hands Umbrella Trust, formerly Matco. The trust paid money from the mineworkers' provident fund to the widows and orphans of workers killed in mine accidents.

 

-Sapa