Lawyer Seth Nthai's career has been dealt a blow after the Constitutional Court dismissed his application to appeal a SCA judgment that overturned his re-admission to the Bar.

The court dismissed Nthai's application with costs as ‘it doesn't engage with the court's jurisdiction’, notes News24.

Nthai was stripped of the title of advocate by the SCA last year.

In a unanimous ruling, the SCA said: ‘Advocates are required to be of complete honesty, reliability and integrity. The need for absolute honesty and integrity applies both in relation to the duties owed to their clients and the courts. The profession has strict ethical rules to prevent malfeasance. As officers of the court, advocates serve a necessary role in the proper administration of justice. Given the unique position that they occupy, the profession has strict ethical rules.’

Judge Nathan Ponnan, who authored the judgment, dismissed the Limpopo High Court's ruling that Nthai's attempt to solicit a R5m bribe from Italian businesses, which had been locked in a mining rights dispute with the government over a decade ago, could only be explained by his depression and anxiety.

The judge said there was insufficient psychiatric evidence to back up this finding.

At the time, Nthai was representing the government in a R2.2bn lawsuit against a group of Italian businesses, who claimed their mining rights had been expropriated.

Nthai attempted to solicit a R5m bribe to be paid into his foreign bank account.

In return, he undertook to ensure that the government would agree to settle the dispute on the basis that each party would pay its own costs, thus potentially saving the claimants millions of rands at the expense of his client, the government.

Full News24 report