‘I will not abscond’: Peet Viljoen vows to reclaim his legal career amid fraud trial

While the legal woes of former celebrity lawyer Peet Viljoen are piling up, he is confident he will once again be allowed to practice as an attorney, with an application due to be placed on the court roll for his return.

This was revealed in an affidavit handed to the Specialised Commercial Crimes Court in Pretoria on Wednesday, during his bid to be placed on bail. Viljoen stated that he is “in the process of an application to be placed on the roll”.

He stressed in his application that he will certainly not abscond but that he will face his fraud and corruption trial, comprising 400 charges against him, as he has done for the past 16 years while the case has been hanging over his head.

Prosecutor Willem van Zyl, meanwhile, handed a hefty bundle of documents to the court – all scathing of Viljoen’s past and present conduct – in the State’s opposition to bail.

While he stated under oath that there are no pending cases against him in South Africa, Van Zyl referred to seven criminal dockets registered against Viljoen and his wife, Mel, regarding the Tammy Taylor nail franchise saga, in which several buyers claimed they were defrauded by the couple.

Van Zyl also handed several affidavits to the court from alleged victims, in which they had set out how they were allegedly defrauded by the couple.

Viljoen, meanwhile, in his affidavit, stated that he and his wife are in possession of about R6 million’s worth of stock and appliances in the nail and beauty sector, and they plan to resume this business. One of his other big business ventures is to set up a coffee shop.

Mel’s brother, Samuel Lindeque, said in a statement issued to the prosecution that the couple had stored beauty products in his Wendy house when they “immigrated” to America last year, which Mel told him they would sell to make ends meet for now.

While the prosecution handed transcripts to the court of several podcasts and online postings from the couple, where they made derogatory statements about black people in South Africa, as well as against the judiciary, Viljoen, in his affidavit, said these posts must be seen in context.

“I have never hesitated to criticise problems in the South African context… I believe this to be my constitutional right…”

But he explained this was to warn people about the outcome of wrong policies. He also pointed to an incident when their offices were “invaded by groups of AK-47-wielding black men, which were traumatising to say the least”.

In defending his social media posts, Viljoen said: “At times, I had emotionally driven reactions and made statements regarding living in the RSA, which should not be taken out of context.”

While appearing visibly subdued in the dock on Wednesday, the prosecution painted a different picture of him during his arrestat OR Tambo International Airport on June 16, after he was kicked out of the USA and arrested on home soil.

Threats made to the police present during his arrest and, at times, the crude language used by him were detailed by Colonel Ursula Herfurth, the investigating officer in the present fraud and corruption trial Viljoen is facing.

Apart from threatening to sue “the sh*t” out of them, he also told an officer, “May the devil look after you,” Herfurth said.

Viljoen, in his affidavit, told the court that he intends to sue the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) for R500 million, claiming he has been subjected to an unlawful prosecution.

Herfurth, meanwhile, in her affidavit, dealt with the social media posts by Viljoenand Mel, and said it appeared that a day after his arrest, most of the posts were removed by them in an attempt to erase the incriminating remarks. 

Viljoen will, meanwhile, remain in the Kgosi Mampuru Prison until at least July 23, when his legal team will answer to the State’s allegations.

zelda.venter@inl.co.za