Ike Motloung yesterday said he and his client would no longer stand by while smear campaigns were being waged and unwarranted prosecutions instigated against Mdluli .

"We're warning these enemies to back off and to do so quickly. Those in glass houses should know that they should not throw stones. They will very quickly in this matter learn of the danger of doing so," he said.

On Friday, magistrate Jurg Viviers, who presided over the inquest into the death of Oupa Ramogibe - killed in 1999 and involved in a love triangle with Mdluli's former lover, Tshidi Buthelezi - found that the embattled policeman could not be linked to the killing.

Motloung's warning follows the insistence by police that the inquest's finding would have no effect on Mdluli's suspension.

Mdluli faces a series of internal investigations and is suspended from duty because of his alleged abuse of crime intelligence's multimillion-rand slush fund.

He also faces an application by Freedom Under Law to the Pretoria High Court that he be recharged for fraud and corruption relating to, among other things, the alleged purchase of a luxury car using police funds.

Motloung said the threatened internal proceedings were a "joke" and nothing more than a "kangaroo court".

"We have been vindicated by the latest ruling. The biggest thing his enemies thought they had against him was the murder charge, which has now gone out of the window."

Dismissing Motloung's threats, a source close to the Mdluli investigation said the outcome of the inquest was "no great surprise".

He said it had been a waste of time and that if Mdluli had been genuinely confident of his innocence, he would have insisted on having his day in court.

"If a court acquits you, that's it. But with an inquest, there is always a question of doubt hanging over one. The best test would have been a trial and see what comes out in the wash," he said.

Police spokesman Brigadier Phuti Setati said the inquest's outcome had no bearing on the internal disciplinary process.

"Mdluli remains suspended," he said.