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Yeukai Karengezeka
Court Correspondent
SUSPENDED Council for Legal Education (CLE) executive secretary, Huggins Duri, and lawyer Linda Kovi have been acquitted of fraud charges after a full trial at the Harare Magistrates’ Court.
Regional magistrate Mr Lazini Ncube ruled that the State had failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt and provided insufficient evidence to support the allegations.
Moreover, the main witness, Ms Shorai Mupunga was not credible.
The two were cleared of any wrongdoing.
The case centered around allegations that Kovi and Duri conspired to fraudulently obtain a certificate of completion, which allowed the former to be admitted as a legal practitioner in Zimbabwe.
The complainant in the matter was the State, represented by CLE finance and administration manager Mr Joe Zimba.
Kovi (34), an administrator at Kanoti and Partners, graduated in 2019 with a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Africa in Lusaka, Zambia.
To practice law in Zimbabwe, she needed to obtain a conversion certificate from CLE after passing a series of prescribed examinations.
According to the State, Kovi registered with the CLE in 2020 and sat for four modules Common Law I & II, Criminal Procedure, and Evidence.
She only passed Common Law II with 54 percent and failed the remaining three modules. She later registered for three additional modules Civil Procedure, Statutes, and Ethics but failed them all.
Investigations also revealed that she never wrote the Bookkeeping module, a requirement for certification.
The prosecution alleged that Kovi then approached Duri, who was the CLE executive secretary at the time, and sought his assistance in fraudulently obtaining a practicing certificate.
Duri purportedly instructed a CLE official, Ms Mupunga, to include Kovi’s name on the list of those eligible for certification, despite her failing the required modules.
A certificate of completion was allegedly processed, signed by the chairman of the Board of Examinations, and collected by Duri.
This certificate enabled Kovi to be admitted as a legal practitioner before the High Court of Zimbabwe.
Peter Tanyanyiwa
Online Reporter