Controversial lawyer Lesley Ramulifho, who has benefitted to the tune of tens of millions of rands from Lottery grants and legal work for the National Lotteries Commission, enjoys a champagne lifestyle jetting around the world for holidays at exotic getaways, reports GroundUp.

Both his house on the luxury Mooikloof Country Estate near Pretoria, and a mountainside house in Simonstown were frozen after the NPA’s Assets Forfeiture Unit obtained a preservation order over them.

The orders were granted in terms of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act.

He used at least R5m of the R27.5m Denzhe Primary Care Lottery grant to buy and furnish his Pretoria home, and support his lavish lifestyle.

Ramulifho is opposing the orders on his houses and two Ocean Basket restaurants he owns in Pretoria, which the AFU says were paid for with Lottery money.

But his legal woes do not seem to have clipped his wings.

On his Instagram page, he openly displays his life of luxury and jet- setting. His holiday destinations, according to his posts, include Paris, Cuba, Colombia, the US, Seychelles, Turkey and Dubai, with stays at luxury hotels, like the Four Seasons and the Radisson Blu.

He also apparently visited Pablo Escobar’s mansion in Colombia.

His clothes are branded and he has a penchant for expensive watches, some of them on display on his Instagram page.

According to his Instagram, Ramulifho checked into the Radisson Blu penthouse enough times for the hotel to quip in an Instagram comment that it was his ‘Cape Town home’.

Full GroundUp report