PRETORIA. – Security specialist Mike Bolhuis has welcomed the Peet Viljoen arrest, saying the former attorney’s detention on his return to South Africa was “entirely predictable”.
Bolhuis, who heads Specialised Security Services (SSS), said his organisation had warned for years that Peet Viljoen and his wife Mel would try to evade justice abroad.
What the Hawks said about the Peet Viljoen arrest
The Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime Investigation unit arrested Viljoen at OR Tambo International Airport on Tuesday 16 June, shortly after he landed on a flight from the United States. Hawks spokesperson Colonel Katlego Mogale said the case stems from the alleged unlawful sale of Johannesburg Property Company properties in 2010, which left the city entity out of pocket by roughly R100 million.
Viljoen, 57, faces more than 400 charges including fraud, theft, forgery, uttering and corruption. He appeared in the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on Thursday 18 June. The matter was postponed to 26 June for a formal bail application, which the State intends to oppose.
Bolhuis says couple are a flight risk
Bolhuis said SSS had published material on the couple for more than a decade and that its warnings had been “validated in full”. He said Peet and Mel Viljoen fit “the very definition of a flight risk” and backed the State’s decision to oppose bail.
The couple’s time in the United States ended badly. They were arrested in Boca Raton, Florida earlier this year over an alleged supermarket “ticket-switching” scheme, then held in US immigration detention. Mel Viljoen returned to South Africa in May while Peet was deported on 16 June.
Call for victims to come forward
Bolhuis urged anyone who believes they were victimised by the couple to lodge formal complaints through proper channels rather than social media campaigns. “Always be professional and always react with facts and purpose,” he said.
Viljoen remains in custody pending his bail application. The charges against him remain allegations until proven in court.
