Peet Viljoen leaving the courtroom following his appearance on Friday on 400 charges.
While former celebrity lawyer Peet Viljoen will appear in court on Friday, 26 June to fight for release on bail, his wife Melany Viljoen described him on social media as someone with “a heart of gold, the spirit of a lion, and a gentle giant”.
In an interview more than 14 years ago, shortly after he was disbarred as an attorney, Viljoen described himself as just a good, hard-working lawyer who earned his millions honestly. He said at the time: “Yes, I am rich, but I earned my money. I don’t drink, I don’t use drugs and I am home every day at 4:30 pm with my (then wife) and three children.”
But in 2011, Judge Ephraim Makgoba ended Viljoen’s legal career after hearing submissions from the then Law Society of the Northern Province on why Viljoen should be disbarred, and from Viljoen on why his name should not be struck off the roll.
The judge concluded that in the interest of the law profession and the public, Viljoen should no longer practise as an attorney. The law society, in its complaints against Viljoen, referred to his conduct in many instances as “mafia-like”.
