The high court held all of them had brazenly defied the rules. (SABC)
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Argument in an appeal hearing concerning 13 advocates who mounted "the steed of greed" and milked the Road Accident Fund would begin in the Supreme Court of Appeal tomorrow.
The two-day appeal hearing follows an application by the General Council of the Bar to strike off all thirteen advocates and senior members of the Pretoria Bar implicated.
The advocates accepted multiple cases on the same day and charged a full day's fee for each case , a practice that had become rife in Pretoria in 2009. "When counsel mount the steed of greed and attempt to clear the hurdle of their professional rules their fall inevitably dents the reputation of the profession, in this case the proud reputation of the Pretoria Bar," a full bench of the high court said in delivering judgment.
"We write this judgment in sorrow and lament the loss of integrity, in the past the hallmark of the profession of advocates. We sit in judgment on 13 senior members of the Bar, among them two silks, who by their action have brought the good name of their profession into disrepute."
The worst offender was Bezuidenhout, he was ordered to pay back over R5.9 million the year after the judgment.
The court struck the names of advocates Thillay Pillay, Theunis Botha, Toy de Klerk, Percy Leopeng, Daniel Mogagabe and French Bezuidenhout off the roll and ordered them to repay the RAF.
The worst offender was Bezuidenhout, he was ordered to pay back over R5.9 million the year after the judgment.
The high court held all of them had brazenly defied the rules and continued their unprofessional conduct even after the Bar Council called for their books. Some also "fiddled" with their hours.
Advocates Brenton Geach SC, Don Williams SC, Stef Güldenpfennig, Mark Upton, Ephraim Seima, Cassie Jordaan and Colin van Onselen were also given a year to repay the RAF.
They were given either suspended sentences or sentences suspended for up to a further six months.
The Pretoria Bar, asked the high court to confirm the sanctions already imposed on twelve of the advocates, including fines and suspensions.
The General Council of the Bar appealed to the SCA.
