Mail & Guardian Reporter
KLAUS VON LIERES UND WILKAU has apparently discovered the Durban air to be a miracle cure.
With the legal spotlight on former defence minister Magnus Malan’s acquittal in Durban, little attention was paid this week to the defence team’s most famous member.
The former attorney general of the Witwatersrand emerged fighting fit from the marathon trial (where he was earning R6 000 a day) ready for his next less-than- politically correct assignment: the defence of Brixton Murder and Robbery Squad chief Charlie Landman, who is charged with corruption.
Von Lieres’s robust performance in private practice follows his early retirement on the grounds of “ill-health” (and a hefty package boosted by his “illness”) – a move which incurred the wrath of some African National Congress MPs shortly after Von Lieres took on the Malan trial. Von Lieres’s monthly pension is about R12 000 and on retirement he received a R742 406 lump sum.
Justice Minister Dullah Omar told the Mail & Guardian six months ago he would look into the circumstances surrounding Von Lieres’s retirement, which had been granted on the grounds his “illness” was an “irreversible” condition.
Omar’s spokesman contacted the minister in Germany this week to ask whether he would take any action against Von Lieres. The spokesman said Omar was not planning to take any action against Von Lieres “at this stage”.