Fugitive lawyer and former Ministerial adviser Paul Ngobeni is not permitted to render any legal services in SA, as he is not registered as a legal practitioner, reports The Citizen.

This is according to the Legal Practice Council (LPC), which confirmed that its records indicate that ‘he does not appear on the Roll of Legal Practitioners (practicing and non-practicing)’.

Last week, Muntu Sithole, the manager for legal services at the office of the Public Protector, testified that Ngobeni was allegedly paid R96 000 to pen a legal opinion for Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s investigation into President Cyril Ramaphosa’s CR17 campaign.

He also revealed that the Public Protector’s office allegedly paid Ngobeni R87 000 to write opinion pieces – published on AfricaNews24-7 – slamming former Finance Minister Tito Mboweni and then Minister of State Security Dipuo Letsatsi-Duba, who were critical of Mkhwebane.

LPC spokesperson Kabelo Letebele said anyone practicing without being duly qualified and listed is contravening the law and is therefore holding out to be a legal practitioner, which is a criminal offence.

‘Our powers are limited in this regard. We therefore encourage and will assist the aggrieved parties to lodge a complaint with the SAPS, as this has to be treated as a criminal matter,’ he added.

Ngobeni does not appear as a member on the website of the National Bar Council of SA.

Ngobeni was disbarred from legal practice by the US Supreme Court in 2011 and was described as a fugitive from justice in a 2012 report by former Public Protector Thuli Madonsela, on his appointment as a Special Adviser in the Ministry for Defence & Military Veterans.

Full report in The Citizen