Fidentia boss J Arthur Brown says he has already been convicted in a trial by media.
He made the statement in an affidavit handed in at his bail hearing in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on Thursday.
”I have been held out to be the villain in the tale, and have already been convicted by it [the media],” he said.
This would prejudice him not only in the criminal trial he is facing, but also in the bail hearing itself.
Brown and his co-accused, fellow Fidentia director Graham Maddock, face initial charges of theft and fraud involving just over R200-million.
They are alleged to have misappropriated money belonging to the Transport Education and Training Authority.
Scorpions investigator Geoffrey Edwards told a packed courtroom on Thursday morning that a total of R680-million was missing.
He also said that none of the potential witnesses he had interviewed — including Fidentia employees and friends of the two men — were afraid of Maddock.
”[But] everybody that I spoke to who was linked to Fidentia was afraid of Mr Brown,” he said.
This fear appeared to ”emanate” from two men, Ray Nelson and Jacques Malan, who had been described to him as Brown’s ”goons” or ”henchmen”.
”They would be armed, walk around the offices with their firearms on display. People felt intimidated by these two,” he said.
One witness he spoke to asked that Edwards alert the police so they could ”rush to his aid” if needed.
”At the time of his arrest Mr Brown had five bodyguards at his house,” Edwards said.
He also said Brown had two South African passports.
In his affidavit, Brown says he has only one. — Sapa