Criminal charges against former Fidentia boss J Arthur Brown were on Tuesday consolidated and transferred to the High Court in Cape Town.
The charges involving the Fundi and Infinity investment groups and the Transport, Education and Training Authority (Teta), were consolidated into one case, to go on trial next year, in the Regional Court in Cape Town.
The entire Fidentia investigation initially involved four different entities: The Fundi and Infinity investment groups, Teta and the Antheru Trust.
At Tuesday's proceedings, before magistrate Wilma van der Merwe, Brown stepped into the dock twice, the first time with broker Jacobus Theart -- his co-accused in the case relating to the Antheru Trust -- and the second time alone in the combined Teta, Fundi and Infinity case.
Although former Teta chief Piet Botma is also allegedly involved with Brown in the Teta case, Botma's case was transferred to the Randburg Regional Court.
Brown and Theart's case involving the Antheru Trust was scheduled for the Cape Town Regional Court, on September 13.
The cases were formerly investigated by the Scorpions, with senior counsel Bruce Morrison conducting the prosecution.
The Scorpions have since been renamed the Hawks and the complex investigation is now in the control of senior counsel Jannie van Vuuren, of the National Prosecuting Authority.
Van Vuuren consolidated the Fundi and Infinity cases with the Teta matter and scheduled the case for trial in the Cape High Court for January 31 next year.
He told the court that two new cases had been added to the Fundi, Infinity and Teta matters.
The two additional cases involved Fidentia's acquisition of the Matco investment company as well as the alleged fraudulent purchase of the farm Thabamanzi in the Eastern Cape.
Van Vuuren told the court that Matco controlled trust and pension funds totalling R1.3 billion. He said the Matco matter involved charges of fraud, theft and corruption.
The Thabamanzi case involved theft charges.
He said the consolidated High Court case now involved "10 or 11" charges, and that the indictment would be handed to Brown next month. - Sapa