Johannesburg - President Jacob Zuma’s lawyer and special adviser, Michael Hulley, has raked in R8.8 million in legal fees from the Department of Justice since 2009, it has emerged.
A chunk of this money is linked to an arms deal case involving arms supplier Thint Holdings as well as the state’s defence in the “spy tapes” case.
According to a reply to a DA parliamentary question, Justice Minister Jeff Radebe confirmed this payment. However, he would not reveal what rate Hulley was paid at.
Instead, Radebe gave the general rates for senior counsel, which ranged from R24 000 to R36 000 a day.
The spy tape case is a litigation initiated by the DA to obtain the “reduced record” of the National Prosecuting Authority’s (NPA) 2009 decision to drop charges against Zuma.
The decision paved the way for Zuma, who was then ANC deputy president and faced criminal charges, to become the country’s president. Zuma had been listed as the third respondent in the spy tapes case.
In the arms deal appeal case, in which Thint was one of the respondents, Hulley was paid R4.7m, according to the table released by Radebe.
Zuma’s former financial adviser, Schabir Shaik, was sentenced to 15 years in jail for fraud and corruption in relation to a R500 000-a-year bribe he had negotiated for Zuma from Thint.
The case also involved businessman Richard Young, who spent millions of rand from his own pocket in 1998 trying to prove his claims that there had been dodgy dealings in the arms deal.
DA MP Debbie Schafer, who posed the question to Radebe, said the minister’s reply revealed that Hulley “has been paid this amount defending Zuma in the arms deal and spy tapes matters”.
“This is not necessarily all for his fees, and includes the fees of counsel. The minister studiously avoided answering the question as to what rate Hulley was paid at, choosing instead to quote the general rates of advocates only,” said Schafer.
She said a previous reply indicated that Hulley was employed on a part-time basis as the president’s special legal adviser, at a rate of just under R700 an hour.
“This is a very low rate for a senior attorney, but perhaps he is making up for that by ensuring that the president’s work is referred to his firm at a more lucrative rate,” Schafer added.
Hulley said he did not see a reason to respond to the DA’s claims that the president’s work was referred to his law firm at a more lucrative rate.
“I’m not a member of Parliament,” said Hulley.
Asked if he was in a position to comment and confirm the amounts mentioned in Radebe’s reply, Hulley said: “No, why would I?”
“She (Schafer) got an answer from the minister, so why would I make a statement? In all fairness, they must put that contradiction to the person who gave the response. If he (Radebe) has given it (response) to you, it must be accurate,” said Hulley.
Schafer said the amount of money being spent on Zuma’s legal fees “is an insult to all South Africans who are forced to pay for this ever-increasing legal bill”.
“It is time for the president to stop wasting taxpayers’ time and money and face his charges,” said Schafer.
Zuma’s spokesman, Mac Maharaj, had not responded to an e-mail by the time of publication.
Earlier this month, Zuma extended the lifespan of the commission into the arms deal by a year, and it is now scheduled to finish its work by November 30 next year.
The Star