adminNqobile Tshili, Chronicle Correspondent
THE Law Society of Zimbabwe (LSZ) has urged aggrieved members of the public who have been fleeced by lawyers to sue the offending legal practitioners as the organisation’s compensation fund cannot cater for all claims.
This follows a series of cases where lawyers have been found abusing trust funds and corruptly selling properties without their owners’ consent.
LSZ president Mrs Vimbai Nyemba told The Chronicle that their association cannot be responsible for all cases where lawyers have defrauded clients.
She said although the LSZ has a fund meant to address the shortcomings of lawyers, the association cannot be fully responsible for all payments.
“We’ve got a fund, fine, but the fund cannot fully compensate for the sale of a house. Each case is decided on its merits, it depends on the amounts involved,” said Mrs Nyemba.
She urged members of public to sue offending lawyers to recover abused funds, saying the LSZ is worried that a number of lawyers were involved in unscrupulous dealings, thereby tainting the image of the profession.
Mrs Nyemba said the society was taking stern action against lawyers involved in shady deals.
“As the law society, we’re very concerned about cases of abuse of trust funds. We don’t want to see members of the public being duped. And there’re a few lawyers that are doing that. I want to assure the public that most of our lawyers are trustworthy. We don’t take lightly the mishandling of trust funds,” she said.
@nqotshili.
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