CEs not responsible for LeisureNet’s collapse – judge

LeisureNet was liquidated in 2000 with R1.2-bn in liabilities and assets worth only R302m. Gardener and Mitchell are alleged to have been party to an elaborate scheme to cheat LeisureNet through the fraudulent purchase of companies. They face charges of fraud, money laundering and violations of the Income Tax Act and the Companies Act, notes a report on the IoL site. Their marathon trial has been before acting Judge Dirk Uijs, who began his judgment on Friday by saying it was important at the outset to dismiss and dispel once and for all the public perceptions that Gardener and Mitchell were responsible for the collapse of the LeisureNet empire, through mismanagement. The judgment will continue tomorrow (Tuesday). Full report on the IoL site

The pair will walk away from the fraud and tax charges relating to the sale of in-house architectural firm Keystone – that’s The Weekender’s take on remarks by Uijs that the first five charges against Gardener and Mitchell were ‘falling in domino-like fashion’. Keystone was bought by LeisureNet from architect Dawid Rabie, who testified that he had been ‘coerced’ into giving Gardener and Mitchell a third of the R2.5m proceeds from the sale. Rabie had turned state witness. Uijs called Rabie a ‘liar’, saying his evidence, where it contradicted that of Gardener and Mitchell, was untrue and that it had in fact been Rabie who had requested the payments to be made offshore to invest in property ventures. ‘Inasmuch as I cannot find that the accused’s version is not reasonably possibly true, and inasmuch as I find that Rabie’s version is unreliable, it follows that I must give them the benefit of the doubt,’ said Uijs. Full report in The Weekender