Fidentia boss guilty of Teta-related fraud

Former Fidentia boss J Arthur Brown has been found guilty on two counts of fraud, one of which related to dealings with the Transport Education and Training Authority (Teta) – which had a R245-million investment locked into the Fidentia group. The question now buzzing around the transport industry is: What has happened about the case that was also levelled at Dr Piet Bothma, former CE of Teta at the time of its dealings with Fidentia? He was arrested as a third suspect in the affair at the time. He appeared in the magistrates’ court in Cape Town but the case was postponed to February 12, 2008 – with the magistrate extending his bail of R200 000. But things went rather quiet after that, and FTW has been unable to discover any more about that case. This despite the assistance of lawyers in Durban and Cape Town, who were unable to come up with any other details at short notice. Efforts were then made to contact Bothma, who is currently dean of the faculty of science and engineering at Midrand Graduate Institute (MGI). But he has not returned any repeated messages left on his cell phone, nor replied to e-mails to both of his two addresses. Attempts to contact two of the senior prosecutors at the Cape magistrates’ court were also unsuccessful, and the Cape Times court correspondent was unable to find anything in the newspaper’s recent archives about the Bothma trial. So FTW has to appeal to you, our readers. If you know anything more up-to-date about the Bothma case, please let us know.