A lawyer representing a bogus advocate who apparently committed suicide in East London after being arrested has come out with more details about his former client, says a Daily Dispatch report.

Advocate Mike Maseti revealed that the man, Lebohang Melamane, was out on bail for a similar case of fraud in Gqeberha when he was arrested last week.

Maseti said Melamane was actually arrested at the East London Regional Court while ‘representing a client’ in a case of fraud on Thursday last week.

Police said Melamane was found dead in the holding cells of the Cambridge police station on Saturday.

They believe he committed suicide.

Maseti said he knew Melamane from more than a decade ago, when he represented him in a case in Zwelitsha. He said after the case, Melamane had ‘disappeared from my radar’ until last week, when he called Maseti, asking him to represent him after his arrest.

‘I spoke with this guy and apparently, from the information I gathered there, he was arrested for about four or five counts of fraud. Police told me he had just been to a similar case of fraud in Gqeberha last week. And without me knowing, on the day of his arrest, they said he appeared in court in a case investigated by these policemen from the Commercial Crimes Unit. I thought he was there as an accused or as a relative of the people, but apparently, he appeared as a legal representative.’

Maseti said to his knowledge Melamane had not been admitted as a legal practitioner and did not hold an LLB degree.

Full Daily Dispatch report