Remember the Millionaires Club of advocates, who were under investigation for sucking the Road Accident Fund dry? Well those 13 naughty members of the Pretoria bar have been punished for ill-gotten gains. The case, which commenced exactly a month ago in the Pretoria High Court, closed today with six of the lawyers being struck off the roll, and a further seven receiving suspensions.
The court ruled that the greedy bunch will also have to pay back millions to the RAF, with one of the advocates being ordered to refund as much as R6 million.
All of the lawyers – two of whom are Silks (senior counsel) no less – were found guilty of radically over-billing and charging massive fees to the beleaguered RAF.
Presiding Judge Kees van Dijkhorst said it was not pleasant to have to impose sanction on such renowned advocates, described as “men of good standing”.
It’s not very pleasant at all for the greater legal fraternity either. This is the biggest scandal ever to affect the SA legal industry.
[Source: IOL]
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