Brown’s bail bid could be ‘dead in the water’
Former Fidentia boss J Arthur Brown. File picture: Candice Chaplin Former Fidentia boss J Arthur Brown. File picture: Candice Chaplin
Cape Town - An application by convicted fraudster J Arthur Brown to be released on bail pending a Constitutional Court appeal could be “dead in the water” before it even began.
Lawyers for Brown brought an urgent bail application before Western Cape High Court Judge Thandazwa Ndita yesterday, citing an “incorrect application of the law” by the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA).
Brown is currently serving a 15-year jail sentence after the SCA set aside a high court-imposed R150 000 fine and sent him to jail instead. He intends to appeal the SCA judgment at the Constitutional Court.
Brown was found guilty of two counts of fraud related to misrepresentations he made in handling investments for the Transport Education and Training Authority, as well as during Fidentia’s takeover of the Mantadia Asset Trust Company, later renamed the Living Hands Umbrella Trust.
Yesterday, Judge Ndita and State prosecutor advocate Billy Downer SC questioned whether the high court had the jurisdiction to hear the application.
Judge Ndita told advocate John Louw, for Brown, that she could not hear the application until she knew the basis of it.
Louw argued that the high court was the court of first instance where Brown was tried and convicted.
It made sense that his bail application be heard at the high court, Louw said.
Judge Ndita said the court was bound by the findings of the SCA and that it would be strange for a lower court to hear an application on a decision taken by a superior court.
Downer said although the SCA was not the the final court of appeal, given a 2012 amendment of the constitution, Brown’s application was premature.
He said the application had no prospect of success at the Constitutional Court appeal.
Downer said Brown, in his court papers, had not provided reasons why he thought his application would be successful. He said even if he had provided the basis for his application, the high court was not the appropriate place.
Judge Ndita agreed.
“That is my starting point. Does this court even have the jurisdiction to entertain this application and if that is answered in the affirmative, we can proceed with the matter? If not, then the matter is dead in the water,” Judge Ndita said.
Cape Times