Contemptuous Porritt apologises to state

Tigon-accused Gary Porritt had to apologise to the prosecution team on Monday after he accused its members of having confiscated documents from his office years ago and removing exculpatory evidence before returning them.

This comes days after Porritt, who is representing himself in his criminal trial at the South Gauteng High Court, was fined R10 000 for contempt of court.

Porritt is standing trial on more than 3 000 charges of fraud, racketeering and contraventions of the Income Tax Act, the Exchanges Control Act and the Companies Act.

The trial deals with events that led to the collapse of the JSE-listed Tigon Group around 2002. Porritt was CEO of Tigon at the time, and his co-accused Sue Bennett a director.

The trial only started late in 2016 and has been progressing at a snail’s pace. Several courts and various judges have found that the accused are using delaying tactics and reverting to what was in one instance called the “Zuma principle”.

Porritt has been in jail for more than a year after his bail was revoked when he failed to appear in court.

He is currently cross-examining Jack Milne, former CEO of Progressive Systems College Guaranteed Growth (PSCGG), an investment fund underwritten by Tigon. Milne earlier accepted a plea and sentence deal, and has served a jail term in connection with the same events.

He is the first state witness.

On Monday Porritt was cross-examining Milne about Milne’s earlier evidence that he had no knowledge of PSCGG funds being paid into the account of the Awethu Trust, an entity Milne contends was under the control of Porritt.

The trust has since been liquidated.

Porritt put it to Milne that the PSCGG board resolved that all payments from the account should be made with mutual consent from Milne and Bennett.

Milne confirmed this, but said he used to sign batches of blank PSCGG cheques and trusted that Bennett would not do anything dishonest.

He said she had, however, made payments into the Awethu Trust bank account without his knowledge. He only learnt of the existence of the trust after the scheme collapsed, when journalist Vernon Wessels told him about it during an interview in Knysna, he testified.

The money was allegedly used to buy shares in Shawcell, a Tigon subsidiary.

Porritt denied that Milne was ignorant of the existence of the trust and challenged Milne’s earlier evidence that Porritt was in control of Awethu Trust.

Milne referred to a document in the record showing that Porritt was a founding trustee of Awethu.

Porritt then said there were other documents that showed who the trustees were, but that they were “filleted” by the state from the confiscated documents before they were returned. He accused the prosecution of “deceiving” the court.

Advocate Etienne Coetzee SC, who leads the prosecution, objected to Porritt shouting in court, making accusations against the prosecution and generally disrespecting the court process.

Judge Brian Spilg pointed out to Porritt that he’d had more than 10 years to get the necessary documents to court to prove that he was not a trustee of Awethu at the time the cheques were made out.

Spilg also reprimanded Porritt for failing to listen to Coetzee’s objection. Porritt was talking to co-accused Bennett while Coetzee was addressing the court about his –Porritt’s – conduct.

Porritt vowed to get the documents and submit them to the court. He stated that Allen Brown and Douglas Knight were trustees of Awethu at the time.

Milne then said there is a document in the record that shows that these two gentlemen were trustees, but that he was not sure whether Porritt ever resigned as a trustee. He later identified the document in the record.

Coetzee demanded an apology from Porritt for saying that the state had made the document disappear, while it was in the record all the time. Spilg ordered him to do so or face a contempt of court inquiry.

After a short adjournment, Porritt apologised.

Milne stood by his evidence that Porritt was at all times in control of Awethu – whether through Bennett, who he said “would do anything you told her to do”; or Knight, who was Porritt’s father-in-law; or Brown, also an associate of Porritt.

Milne said he had no knowledge of PSCGG money being paid into the Awethu account, and that it was all Porritt’s doing. He testified that it was Porritt’s way of executing his role in the PSCGG scheme, which he [Milne], Porritt and Bennett had planned right from the beginning, with the intention of defrauding investors.

Porritt denied this. He said it was no scheme. He denied having been in control of the trust and disputed that the trust was used without Milne’s knowledge.

The trial continues on Tuesday.