Cruickshank’s dealings with Fidentia in the spotlight

But the Cape Argus reports that his deal has come under the spotlight again as attempts are being made to sequestrate his estate. The two major claims against the estate are one for more than R62.5m for Fidentia and another of around R140m for linked-investment services provider, Ovation, and a money market fund, Common Cents. In court papers filed in Johannesburg Fidentia curators, attorney Dines Gihwala and forensic accountant George Papadakis allege that Cruickshank worked with former Fidentia boss Arthur Brown and auditor Graham Maddock to shift more than R200m from Fidentia. The Fidentia curators also allege that Cruickshank ‘spent, misappropriated, squandered or (at best for him) recklessly and unlawfully invested large sums of investors\' money’. Full Cape Argus report

Big-four bank Absa is facing allegations that an employee helped launder more than R200m. Fidentia\'s curators, George Papadakis and Dines Gihwala, said in papers filed in the High Court (Transvaal), that they believed Cruickshank bribed an Absa employee with R53 000. In return, the employee effectively facilitated the movement of almost R220m, belonging to investors, through three Absa accounts in the second half of 2005. Jackie Cameron writes in Moneyweb that banks are expected to report transactions they believe may be incidents of money-laundering, tax evasion or connected to crime to the Financial Intelligence Centre so that it in turn can timeously alert the relevant authorities. In spite of these requirements, individuals linked to Fidentia managed to loot investors\' funds to the tune of billions – much of it channelled with ease through local bank accounts. Full Moneyweb report