Lawyer faces LSZ wrath over missing trust funds

Fidelis Munyoro Chief Court Reporter
Harare lawyer Tichavona Mutebere is in hot soup after he allegedly misappropriated more than $4 000 in trust funds in breach of client trust principles. Mr Mutebere reportedly embezzled $4 230 belonging to his client, Mr Charles Matete. Mr Matete in April last year paid $6 930 into the trust account of Tichavona Mutebere and Company Legal Practitioners.In October the same year, Mr Matete allegedly instructed Mr Mutebere to transfer $4 530 to V. Nyemba and Associates in settlement of a judgment against him.

Mr Mutebere reportedly did not effect the transfer. Efforts to make a settlement between the lawyer and the client failed. Mr Matete took up the matter with the Law Society of Zimbabwe (LSZ) in a bid to recover his money.

In his letter to the LSZ, Mr Matete also raised a complaint that his property had been attached after Mr Mutebere consented to a court order without his knowledge, breaching the elementary rule of consulting with a client.

“I only discovered the lawyer’s shenanigans on July 4 this year,” said Mr Matete in the letter dated July 14, 2016. “Having made several follow-ups to have (Mr) Mutebere transfer the funds to V. Nyemba without success, I was convinced beyond reasonable doubt that the trust funds might have been abused and as such I challenge Mutebere and Company to provide bank statements of their trust accounts which must be showing a minimum balance of the trust funds I deposited with them to date.”

The LSZ wrote to Mr Mutebere asking him to respond to the complaint against him. “Kindly note that your failure to respond within the stipulated timeframe will result in negative inferences being drawn from your failure to respond and the matter would be forwarded to the Disciplinary and Ethics Committee without further reference to you,” reads part of the letter dated July 25, 2016.

In his response, Mr Mutebere sought to justify how the money was used. He said the law firm raised legal fee notes for all the cases which it handled. “This did not go down well with the complainant who did not want to pay us at all,” said Mr Mutebere.

He also denied that he made a unilateral decision to consent to a court order, which culminated in Matete’s property being attached. The lawyer also gave a breakdown of how Mr Matete’s money was used in an attempt to absolve himself from any wrongdoing.

Mr Matete attached receipts showing payments he made for legal work done for him at Mutebere law firm, which had nothing to do with trust funds. However, the lawyer insists that Mr Matete’s complaint to the LSZ was a ploy to avoid settling his bills with the law firm. “He raised this complaint simply to try and force me to release money to him at the expense of my legal fees,” said Mr Mutebere.

“I am not disputing that I received trust money from the complainant, I am simply stating that indeed I have a right to set off and or hold on to the money if I am owed.”

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