'Cash-strapped' ex-Fidentia boss still living in lap of luxury

Fidentia's former boss J Arthur Brown is living in a house in Cape Town worth nearly R8-million.

Last month the National Prosecuting Authority served notice to appeal Brown's R150000 fine after he was convicted of fraud.

During the six-year trial, which failed to prove he had stolen from widows and orphans and left him financially crippled, Brown lived in three houses with a combined value of R26.9-million.

This week, he insisted he effectively lived on charity.

"I do not live in luxury from supposed ill-gotten gains," he said.

Brown, who declined to say who paid his rent in Bishopscourt, insisted he survived on the "financial support of my family and individuals who believed in my plight.

"Considering my reliance on others, my living expenses are very conservative," he said.

Testifying in his defence earlier this year, Brown told the Cape Town High Court: "The investors suffered and for that I am truly sorry . the term widows and orphans still haunts me."

The Samaritans who leased or subsidised the homes Brown lived in include UK property developer Brett Jolly, UK businessman Matthew Machin and local property developer Rhett Molyneux.

The 4707m² four-bedroom Bishopscourt house is owned by Up Front Investments 171, with Machin and Molyneux as directors. Machin this week said the company had been "hijacked" by a partner. Molyneux could not be reached for comment.

The house was nearly auctioned recently due to municipal debt.

"A sale in execution was pending, but the debtor went into liquidation," said city mayoral committee member for finance Ian Neilson.

In 2009, Jolly emerged as the person who rented out a luxury home at the Atlantic Golf Estate in Melkbosstrand to Brown and his partner, Annelizé van den Bergh. Deeds records show Brett Jolly Consulting paid R3.1-million for it.

Brown moved into Machin's R16-million Hout Bay home when details leaked about his stay at the golf estate. Machin allowed Brown to stay on the 6600m² property because he "believed in innocent until proven guilty".

He said there was "no financial arrangement in place" and he had "never touched a cent belonging either to Brown or his family, even though I have been accused of laundering money for him".

Machin asked Brown to leave after their association led to his UK bank accounts being frozen for nine months. Brown's assets and the R11-million beachfront home he shared with his then wife, Susan, were seized by the state in 2007.