Former LeisureNet joint chief executives Peter Gardener and Rod Mitchell have to wait more than a month to know whether they will be found guilty of the array of charges against them.
A marathon session of closing arguments, which lasted more than a week, finished on Wednesday, and acting Judge Dirk Uijs said he would deliver his findings on December 1.
The two men face multiple charges of fraud, money laundering and contraventions of the Companies Act and the Income Tax Act.
Part of the case against them revolves around an amount of $254 000 they allegedly demanded as a kickback from architect Dawid Rabie after LeisureNet bought out his majority share in an architectural practice named Keystone in 1999.
Also at issue is an undeclared interest in a German company that LeisureNet bought out.
After the close of the state’s case in August, Gardener and Mitchell were discharged on one count of fraud related to the Keystone transaction.
Uijs said then, however, that they still had to answer to the alternatives to the fraud charge, of contravening the Companies Act by failing as directors of the LeisureNet group to disclose their interest, and of theft.
LeisureNet, which operated the Health and Racquet Club, was liquidated in 2000 with liabilities of R1,2-billion and assets of only R302-million.
Gardener and Mitchell’s two co-accused, business associate Johann Moser, and Mitchell’s wife and financial manager Suzanne, were earlier discharged on money laundering charges, the only ones they faced. — Sapa