Mungo Soggot
JUSTICE Minister Dullah Omar said this week he
was awaiting “certain information” about the
controversial retirement of former
Witwatersrand attorney general Klaus von
Lieres und Wilkau, but had yet to launch an
official investigation.
After resigning and receiving a
R12 000-a-month ill-health pension courtesy of
the taxpayer, Von Lieres took on the defence
of former minister of defence Minister Magnus
Malan in Durban, where he is understood to be
earning R6 000 a day plus R600 an hour for
additional consultations.
Omar said his department had accepted Von
Lieres’s resignation on the grounds of ill-
health “on the basis of a medical certificate
which indicated Von Lieres was suffering from
an irreversible medical condition”. He said an
official investigation had not yet been
launched and he was waiting for more
information before commenting on the matter.
Von Lieres’s retirement drew angry comments
last month from African National Congress
justice spokes-man Willie Hofmeyr, who said
taxpayers deserved some answers since they had
made Von Lieres instantly wealthy.
Hofmeyr expressed concern about Von Lieres’s
agreement to defend Malan after doctors had
pronounced him unfit for his post as attorney
general and had advised his immediate
retirement.
It was reported that on his retirement, Von
Lieres had receieved a R742 406 lump sum and
an R11 772 a month pension.
Von Lieres had a fiery relationship with his
employers, taking the Justice Department to
court in 1994 for denying him a promotion he
said had been promised him by the then justice
minister, Kobie Coetsee.
He applied to the Transvaal Supreme Court to
confirm his promotion to deputy director
general of the department, but this failed.
Von Lieres claimed there had been a conspiracy
between senior Justice Department officials to
deprive him of his promotion.