Lawyers for Fidentia boss J Arthur Brown and financial director Graham Maddock were on Monday afternoon making arrangements for payment of the R1-million bail that a Cape Town magistrate granted each of their clients.
The two men face fraud and theft charges involving just over R200-million from the Transport Sector Education and Training Authority (Teta), with other charges to follow.
Magistrate Eric Louw said in his bail ruling that the charges were ”of a very grave and serious nature”.
”This case is as big as it can get. White-collar crime is the silent killer and saboteur of economic growth,” he said.
Louw ordered that they surrender their passports to the Scorpions, report to the police twice a week and tell the Scorpions before disposing of any assets worth more than R100 000.
He also ordered that they have no contact with Teta’s chief executive Piet Bothma or its chief financial officer.
Brown and Maddock, who were arrested at their Cape Town homes on March 6, had asked for bail of R100 000 each. The state countered with a demand of R3-million each.
Louw said that even if it was true that Brown’s strong-arm men — referred to as ”goons” in testimony in the hearing — had an intimidating effect, that Brown had five bodyguards and that Financial Services Board investigators were bugged, it would be difficult to find that any of these constituted a likelihood of danger or harm to any other person, such as a potential witness.
As for the state’s suggestion that the two men might flee the country, the allegations against Fidentia first came to light months ago.
”They have had ample opportunity to leave the country, which they did not,” he said.
In an apparent reference to the mineworkers’ widows and orphans who are beneficiaries of the Living Hands Trust, which has also allegedly fallen victim to Fidentia, Louw said he had ”extreme sympathy” for those who were suffering because of the case.
”I do not here refer to those who have enough in life. I refer to those whose livelihood is dependent on payments from any one of the mentioned companies or firms — those whose lifeline now has effectively been severed.”
However, it had yet to be established whether the two men were guilty, and keeping them in custody now would be premature punishment.
Louw said the bail could be posted in cash, or through guarantees.
Maddock’s advocate, Pete Mihalik, said the prosecution had agreed to accept a R900 000 bond in favour of the state on a property owned by Maddock at Cape Infanta, plus R100 000 in cash.
Advocate Klaus von Lieres, for Brown, offered a similar guarantee on a property owned by Brown at upmarket Sunset Beach in Cape Town.
However, lead prosecutor Bruce Morrison rejected this, saying the property was bought with Teta money, and was therefore the proceeds of crime.
Brown’s lawyers are expected to seek an alternative way of financing the bail.
The Reserve Bank has frozen his personal accounts, and Absa has cut off his access bond facility on the Sunset Beach home.
Earlier, Louw had remarked jokingly to the two men: ”Now’s the time you need a little help from your friends.” — Sapa