The Fidentia scandal has rocked South Africa in the last couple of years,and we have seen some of the perpetrators sentenced for their crimes.What many still want to see is some financial compensation for the victims of this horrible fraud,many of them pensioners and orphans.
A large percentage of their money was lost by J.Arthur Brown and his greedy colleagues and the auction of their former headquarters, 1 Waterford Place, might recoup some of those funds.It is set to be auctioned on site,at noon on the 8th October 2008.
Waterford Place is in the relatively new development of Century City in Cape Town.It is to be auctioned separately from an adjacent building,Sycodeli,which acted as the Fidentia canteen and was owned by the company.
According to the auctioneers, Alliance Group, the property consists of a gym, 120 parking spaces, and 4210 square meters of prime letting office space.Apparently there has been an undisclosed reserve set by Fidentia’s curators however they do want it to sell on the day of the auction and may consider many offers.Waterford Place alone is expected to fetch between R40m and R50m.
Hopefully it fetches a good price because at this stage Fidentia’s victims will only receive 30c for every rand they had with the company.
This is not the end of the story though.There are still more assets and properties belonging to either Fidentia or J.Arthur Brown ,some of which are in trusts,that are being processed through the legal system so that their sales may also bulk up the funds for the victims.
1Waterford Place seems to be a great building and the new owner,whoever that may be,will surely erase it’s current infamy by establishing something bigger and better in the place of such an embarrassment to our business sector.
