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South Africa: Fidentia Boss's Trial Likely to Be Delayed By Treatment for Depression
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Business Day (Johannesburg)
8 August 2008
Posted to the web 8 August 2008
Chris Van Gass
Cape Town
The likelihood of the trial of former Fidentia boss J Arthur Brown starting as scheduled next month appears to be diminishing as further postponements have delayed the process .
One case against Brown was postponed again yesterday by regional court magistrate Wilma van der Merwe until August 20 to await the outcome of an application by Brown's lawyer, Rashad Kahn, to have him transferred from Pollsmoor prison to a private clinic for further treatment.
Brown, who was attacked in the back of a police van in May while being transported to Pollsmoor, was not at court yesterday because of "difficulties" experienced by the state to bring him to court. Brown is being treated for depression in the hospital section of Pollsmoor and Kahn asked for the postponement on the basis that Brown needed further treatment for "at least 30 days".
This means that it would be impossible to start his trial on fraud and theft charges, relating to the two companies Infinity and Fundi P rojects, as scheduled on September 15.
Brown is alleged among other charges to have used R5,5m in Infinity loyalty programme funds to pay salaries and other expenses of Fidentia companies, and to have allegedly defrauded Fundi Projects of R3m.
In a civil case heard on Wednesday, Brown and his wife Susan also bought further time to prevent their final sequestration after filing an application with the Constitutional Court.
Yet another h igh c ourt matter involving Brown, over the legality of the warrant of arrest on which he was taken into custody, will be heard within the next two weeks.
The consensus after yesterday's hearing was that it was "unlikely" that the first case in a series relating to the Fidentia collapse against Brown would now go ahead.
Kahn said yesterday he had applied to the correctional services department to have Brown moved to a private clinic for treatment.
Dr Ashraf Jedaar, a psychiatrist who consulted Brown, found he had a "major depressive disorder, with melancholic features and post-traumatic stress disorder".
Jedaar said in an affidavit that he supported the application for Brown to be referred "urgently" to a private psychiatric facility.
He said Brown was at present unable to consult "properly and for lengthy periods of time" with his legal representatives due to his condition.
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Jedaar said Brown needed "at least one month of regular treatment" in a private clinic for him to be able to recover and prepare for his various court cases.
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