Porritt accuses liquidators of `fabrications`
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PSC fund`s CEO goes on offensive at inquiry
Chief Reporter
EMOTIONS boiled over yesterday at the insolvency inquiry given the task of tracking down R155m of money put into PSC Guaranteed Growth (PSCGG) as Tigon CEO Gary Porritt accused the liquidators of `fraudulently fabricating` facts to support their case.
The liquidators have been seeking to recover money for more than 4000 investors who poured R250m into the PSCGG fund in 2000. But PSCGG was exposed as a scam by its former head, Jack Milne, who admitted last year that he and Porritt had designed the fund. The creation of the fund led to a rise in the share prices of two JSE Securities Exchange SA-listed companies, Tigon and Shawcell, which were headed by Porritt.
There is nothing left in PSCGG, and liquidators have traced R104m of the investment to EBN Trading and another R51m to Awethu Trust both entities linked to Porritt.
Under questioning in the insolvency inquiry into EBN at the Pietermaritzburg master of the high court offices yesterday, Porritt went on the offensive against the lawyer for the liquidators, Alec Brooks. `The R104m claim filed is a fraudulent misrepresentation to your knowledge and the liquidators,` he told Brooks.
Porritt said that EBN and Awethu did not owe PSCGG any money at all, as the investors` funds went through those entities in order to buy shares in Shawcell and Tigon.
Shares in Shawcell are now in effect worthless as it has been suspended from trading on the JSE and its various arms sold off piecemeal.
Porritt`s wife, Bernice, did not arrive to testify yesterday about her role as trustee and director of various entities related to her husband`s business empire.
Instead, her lawyers produced a doctor`s note which said she was suffering from severe anxiety and depression and ought not to testify. The doctor who wrote the note has been called to give evidence today .
But when Porritt was asked about the medical certificate, he said to Brooks: `I had nothing to do with that I am sick of your lies`. Brooks responded that everyone knew why the inquiry was being held, to which Porritt responded: `Because you have got a fraudulent and fabricated claim for R104m.`
`(Brooks) is a master in the art of deception,` Porritt told the inquiry later.
Brooks responded that as he was basing his questions on Porritt`s own accounts, the deception could only have arisen from there.
The evidence in this insolvency matter is likely to be closely watched by the police, who arrested Porritt and his codirector, Sue Bennett, last year for breaching the Companies Act through the PSCGG scheme as described by Jack Milne. However, Porritt and Bennett have said they are innocent.
Profile Group (Pty) Ltd. has taken care in preparing all information on this website, but does not accept any liability for errors or out-of-date information.
