Fidentia case postponed

One of the trio of cases against former Fidentia boss J Arthur Brown was postponed in his absence on Friday because he was reportedly not feeling well.

Cape Town Regional Court magistrate Wilma van der Merwe postponed the hearing to June 3.

She also, as is customary, issued a warrant of arrest, which she said would be held over to that date.

Brown’s attorney, William Booth, told her that he had been told Brown, who is still in hospital after allegedly being raped by other prisoners last week, was not feeling well.

Brown, who had been out on bail, was arrested on May 9 on fresh charges and is under police guard in the hospital.

He did appear in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on Thursday for a postponement of his bail application.

A trial date—September 15—has been set for the regional court case. Friday’s hearing was to have dealt with further particulars.

Brown is alleged, among other things, to have used R5,5-million in Infinity loyalty programme funds to pay salaries and other expenses of Fidentia companies, and to have swindled a company named Fundi Projects of R3-million.—Sapa