THE long-awaited trial of Gary Porritt, former MD of now-defunct financial services company Tigon, resumed in the High Court in Johannesburg on Tuesday, with an erstwhile business partner revealing the dramatic details around how the company scrambled to dig itself out of a hole by planning to list in London.Porritt and co-accused Sue Bennett face fraud and racketeering charges on various counts following the collapse of their Progressive Systems College (PSC) Guaranteed Growth Fund, which saw almost 3,000 investors losing R162m.Jack Milne, a founding member of the fund, testified on Tuesday that Porritt had indicated his intention to list Tigon on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), despite it being thinly traded on the JSE.At the time, many South African companies were in the hunt for an LSE listing.Tigon acquired 70% of PSC, but it was later reversed. PSC set up a vehicle, the growth fund, through which Tigon shares were bought by tapping into its client base.Milne testified that Ti...
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