Cape Town — Former Fidentia boss J Arthur Brown and his wife Susan have bought some time to stop a provisional sequestration order against them being made final in the Cape High Court.

This is because of a pending application for leave to appeal the refusal of Judge Dennis Davis, who first heard the application, to step down.

Deputy Judge President Jeanette Traverso yesterday postponed making a final sequestration order on the Browns' joint estate until May 26, to allow the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) to consider their application for leave to appeal Davis's ref usal.

In January the Browns applied for Davis to recuse himself, saying he had been biased by "various unproven allegations" against Brown in the media. Davis dismissed this with costs and Brown decided to seek leave to appeal.

Traverso yesterday questioned why the Browns had brought another application on Tuesday seeking to postpone the final order, pending the SCA hearing. She criticised their lawyer Rashad Kahn for bringing the application ahead of yesterday's return date to consider making final their order.

Kahn was previously sanctioned by Davis to pay for costs of an appeal against his ruling. Traverso yesterday reserved judgment on the issue of Tuesday's costs and set the return date on the sequestration application "provisionally" for May 26.