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Mashudu Netsianda, Senior Court Reporter
THE Law Society of Zimbabwe (LSZ) is seeking a High Court order to control and administer Cheda and Partners’ outstanding fees and liabilities pending the proper winding up of the law firm.
Cheda and Partners was shut down in April last year after the LSZ detected alleged fraudulent transactions running into hundreds of thousands of dollars. The now defunct law firm owes creditors $100, 000 in overhead liabilities and is also owed a substantial amount by former clients in legal fees.
The law firm’s demise first saw its three senior partners, Sindiso Mazibisa, Mlamuli Ncube and Nqobizitha Ndlovu surrendering their practising certificates.
They were later suspended by the LSZ pending fraud investigations, one of which was the alleged theft of $335,000, held in trust by Mazibisa.
The LSZ has filed an urgent chamber application at the Bulawayo High Court citing Mazibisa, Ncube, Ndlovu and the law firm’s legal practitioners as the respondents.
LSZ deputy executive secretary, Wilbert Pfungwadzashe Mandinde, in his founding affidavit, said the industry regulator wants an order to continue managing the trust accounts of Cheda and Partners, collect outstanding fees owed to the law firm, pay liabilities and dispose of the assets before winding it up.
On February 4, 2015, the LSZ was given the green light by the High Court to regulate the affairs of Cheda and Partners up to May 15, 2015. The firm was shut down at the end of the curatorship.
The LSZ is threatened with claims amounting to $3 million emanating from theft, fraud, forgery and dishonest practices by its members, with deregistered Bulawayo law firm Cheda and Partners having the highest claim at $1 million.
The LSZ administers a fund aimed at compensating members of the public who would have incurred losses due to theft, fraud and other dishonest practices committed either by a registered legal practitioner or their employees.
A report by the legal practitioners regulating body has revealed that Cheda and Partners is the only law firm from Bulawayo out of the nine law firms that are set to cost the LSZ $2, 9 million in claims from its clients.
Seven of the offending law firms are from Harare while one, Chigayo and Partners, with a claim of $16,000, is based in Chiredzi.
Recently, a Gweru-based law firm, Gonesi and Partners, was placed under curatorship over alleged fraudulent transactions amounting to $144, 000.
In two years, 12 firms have been placed under curatorship. They were later suspended by the LSZ pending fraud investigations.
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