Former lawyer and reality TV star Peet Viljoen
Flashy former celebrity lawyer Peet Viljoen will on July 23 have to pull out all the stops to refute more than 480 pages of documents handed to court by the prosecution as to why he should not be granted bail.
Viljoen’s legal team only presented the Specialised Commercial Crimes Court in Pretoria with an affidavit last week made by him in his bid to obtain bail. In contrast, prosecutor Willem van Zyl hit back with a thick bundle of affidavits made by several of his alleged victims in the Tammy Taylor saga and others, in which he is painted as being threatening and verbally abusive in some cases.
Viljoen is facing 400 charges, including fraud, theft, corruption, forgery and uttering, linked to an alleged R27.6 million Johannesburg Property Company property fraud scheme. Viljoen said in his affidavit that the State has a weak case against him, as the matter has been ongoing for 16 years and many of the witnesses will not be able to recollect all the facts.
The State, meanwhile, handed affidavits to court from some of Viljoen’s co-accused who had pleaded guilty. The affidavits incriminate Viljoen under oath. Viljoen will also have to explain past social media posts in which he was outspoken, criticising certain judges and black South Africans.
