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Cape Town - Western Cape High Court prosecutors have been
ordered to hand over accounting records to former Fidentia boss J Arthur Brown,
it was reported on Wednesday.
Brown, who faces four counts of fraud, two counts of
corruption, one count of money-laundering and two counts of theft, claimed the
documents were being withheld.
According to the Cape Times, Judge Anton Veldhuizen on
Tuesday said he was not in a position to say the accused did not need the
documents to prepare his defence.
"I regard it as prudent and in the interest of justice
and a fair trial of the accused that an order be made that these accounting
records be made available to him," the judge said.
Brown's trial started last Tuesday with the state's first
witness - chartered accountant and former Fidentia financial director Graham
Maddock.
Veldhuizen said a lot of Maddock's evidence was probably not
in dispute and that Brown had indicated he would be in a better position to
make "substantial admissions" if he had access to the companies'
accounting systems.
The newspaper reported the State as saying the volume of
files was immense and would be costly to hand over. The judge said the State
would pay if necessary.
The trial resumes on Monday.
