Johannesburg businessman David Rosen’s fatal fall from the sixth floor of the Michelangelo hotel last year was suicide, Business Day reported on Thursday.
It said this conclusion from an inquest into Rosen’s death ended a murder probe into the incident, and lifted a cloud off former Corpcapital director Nic Frangos.
Rosen died hours after laying a complaint of intimidation against Frangos and a business partner at the Sandton police station a year ago.
Police quickly told the media they were opening a murder probe, which threw the spotlight on Frangos.
But this week, the Randburg Magistrate’s Court handed down a verdict of suicide.
Frangos said on Wednesday he was drawn into the case as part of a campaign by ”third parties”.
He said he ”cannot begin to describe my shock and anger” when the impression was created that he was implicated in Rosen’s death. Frangos, Bloch and Rosen were involved in a company called Unibeck, but this collapsed amid allegations that Rosen had embezzled funds.
After Rosen’s death, his wife found a suicide note on his computer, in which he said ”the time has come for me to lie down [on my sword]”.
She was paid R11-million by Liberty Life under a life policy.
In affidavits, Rosen’s former business partner, Brad Bloch, said Rosen had spoken repeatedly about suicide in the weeks before his death. – Sapa