Fidentia boss J Arthur Brown was released from custody on Thursday after his R1-million bail was unexpectedly paid on his behalf.
His advocate Klaus von Lieres handed the cheque to Scorpions prosecutors moments after a Cape Town magistrate ruled that property belonging to a third party was acceptable as surety for bail.
Brown was met at the exit of the court by a group of overjoyed former Fidentia employees, who burst into song as he emerged.
”I’m going home,” they sang, waving their hands in the air and embracing him, drawing a smile as they escorted him to a nearby hotel.
”I don’t know whether Mr Brown wants to make any statements other than to say he’s very pleased that the matter has been resolved at last, and that he can get on with his business,” Von Lieres told the South African Press Association after the bail was paid to the clerk of the court.
Asked where the million rand came from, Von Lieres said: ”I’m sorry, it’s another party, but I’m not prepared to discuss that.”
Brown’s personal accounts have been frozen by the Reserve Bank, Absa has cut off his access-bond facility on his luxurious home at Cape Town’s Sunset Beach, and his wife’s business has been provisionally liquidated.
Brown and his fellow Fidentia director Graham Maddock were arrested by the Scorpions on March 6 on fraud and theft charges involving, at this stage, just over R200-million.
Magistrate Eric Louw granted them bail on Monday, but ruled that any surety they offered had to meet the approval of the Scorpions.
Maddock was released after putting up R100 000 cash and a Cape Infanta property as surety.
The Scorpions rejected Brown’s offer of his luxury home at Sunset Beach in Cape Town on the grounds that it was bought with the proceeds of crime, and said a second property offered was also tainted.
The unit also rejected a property in Kimberley, registered in the name of the wife of a former Fidentia colleague of Brown’s, Martin van Schalkwyk, saying the property of a third party would not be enough to hold Brown in South Africa.
It maintained there had to be a link between Brown and a property for it to be acceptable.
In a hearing on Thursday morning, Brown’s legal team asked Louw to declare that surety put up by a third party was acceptable for bail.
Von Lieres said that in his ”short career of 40 years” in law, he had not come across an objection such as the Scorpions’.
Louw said in ruling that if Brown were to borrow money and pay the bail, ”no-one would blink an eye”.
He could see no difference between this and surety offered by a third party, and saw no reason why an accused had to have an interest in the surety.
Seconds after Louw had left the courtroom, Von Lieres handed the cheque, in a white envelope, to the prosecution team.
Brown has been held in Goodwood prison since his arrest.
He is expected to travel to Johannesburg on Friday to consult his attorney, John Hunter.
His bail conditions allow him out of the Western Cape only with the permission of the Scorpions. He also has to surrender his passport and report to police twice a week.
Van Schalkwyk, who was at Thursday’s hearing, headed Fidentia’s corporate office division until he was retrenched by the group’s curators.
He said the Kimberley house was offered as surety because ”I’ve got enough trust in Arthur … he hasn’t shown any indication of running away”.
”I think it’s absolutely crucial, whether he’s guilty or not, to have a fair opportunity to defend himself,” he said.
One of the grounds on which Brown sought bail was that it would be extremely difficult to prepare a defence from prison in such a complex case. — Sapa