Celebrity lawyer’s woes keep on piling up - Misappropriation of trust funds

Celebrity lawyer’s woes keep on piling up
September 2011 By ZELDA VENTER


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Celebrity lawyer Peet Viljoen has had a bad week, with the Pretoria High Court first ordering his provisional sequestration and an application launched for the eviction of him and his wife, Gerda, from their Silver Lakes house.

On Friday, the man who once counted Springbok stars Joost van der Westhuizen and James Dalton as well as Afrikaans music superstar Steve Hofmeyr as his clients, was struck off the roll and barred from practising as an attorney.

Judge Ephraim Makgoba ended Viljoen’s legal career on Friday after listening to the Law Society of the Northern Province on why Viljoen should be disbarred and Viljoen’s argument as to why his name should not be struck off the roll.

The judge said he would give his reasons later, but he “now ruled” that, in the interest of the law profession and the public, Viljoen should no longer practise as an attorney.

Judge Makgoba said given the nature of the complaints against Viljoen, he was not going to reserve his order until he had delivered his judgment.

This is the end of a long legal battle for the lawyer to try to save his career.

He tried to postpone his fate once again on Friday, when he asked the court to postpone the application for his removal from the roll because he had not had time to answer two affidavits filed against him last year by the law society.


The law society said it offered to make him copies, at a fee, but Viljoen said he was not prepared to pay the R2 800 for the copies.

The court frowned upon this, questioning how he could object to paying for the affidavits, if his livelihood and career were at stake.

The court admitted the affidavits and expressed the views that it was just a ploy by Viljoen to delay the application and to buy some time.

Judge Makgoba said it was “astonishing” that Viljoen did not try to obtain the affidavits from the law society and said it displayed his negative attitude.

He said even if he did postpone the matter, he very much doubted if Viljoen would in any event answer to the allegations.

It was argued on behalf of the law society that there were a number of complaints by the public against Viljoen.

This included a complaint by Dalton and a complaint by Hofmeyr.


The law society, in its complaints against Viljoen, referred to his conduct in many instances as “mafia-like”.

Apart from being implicated in the misappropriation of trust funds running into millions of rand, it is also claimed that Viljoen intimidated and threatened some of his clients.


It also emerged that Viljoen dished out gifts such as a jet-ski, a Rolex watch and the use of his Porsche to an estate agent to tout work from her.

Adding to his woes (or perhaps not), Viljoen was this week provisionally sequestrated as he owed a closed corporation R3 million after renovations to Silver Lakes home as well as “loans granted to him to keep him going”. Viljoen is apparently unable to repay the R3m.

It was on Friday questioned in court whether this was a so- called friendly sequestration.

The return date of the provisional sequestration is October 4.

It came to light in that application that Viljoen’s home was sold on execution.

The buyer, Anmarie van der Walt, issued an eviction application against Viljoen and his wife.

Van der Walt said she paid a lot of money for the house ( she did not state how much), and she and her family would like to move in, but Viljoen had refused to move out.

In court papers she submitted that she had to borrow money to buy the property and she would like to move in as soon as possible.

Viljoen is yet to answer to her allegations regarding the property and the application is due to be heard on Tuesday. - Pretoria News