Lawyer in fraudulent sale of property

THE Law Society of Zimbabwe (LSZ) disciplinary and ethics committee (Dec) is set to make recommendations on allegations levelled against Harare lawyer, Kudzaishe Gama, who is being accused of facilitating a fraudulent sale of a property.

According to the LSZ handling procedure, a case is referred to the Dec if the respondent, in this case Gama, fails to furnish the requested information, resulting in negative inferences being drawn against him in the substantive complaint.

Gama of Gama and Partners, is being accused of selling property belonging to Norbet Njazi and transferring it into his client, Frank Rudolph's name despite the existence of a mortgage bond on the property.

It is alleged that Gama connived with the Sheriff of the High Court Mcduff Madega to attach, sell and transfer Njazi's property in a fraudulent and corrupt manner.

Gama was hired as a conveyancer to transfer a stand in Adylinn, Bluffhill which belonged to Njazi into his client Rudolph's name.

Gama also allegedly failed to remit money received from the bonded properties to beneficiaries, Saltana and CBZ Bank which held the mortgage bonds, leading the financial institution to lose its security of US$80 000.

Njazi lodged a complaint against Gama to LSZ requesting the body to investigate the lawyer on his conduct after CBZ Bank sued him for loss of its security bonds, arguing that he was in debt.

On September 3, 2021, LSZ responded to Njazi's complaint through an email, stating that it was forwarding his complaint to the disciplinary and ethics committee for recommendation.

“Be advised that your file is being summarised for onward transmission to our disciplinary and ethics committee for their recommendation,” wrote Joyce Panavanhu from the LSZ's regulatory services department.

“Find attached a copy of the LSZ complaints handling procedure you can familiarise with. You will hear from us in due course.”

LSZ executive secretary Edward Mapara said Gama's conduct was in violation of sections 20, 21 of the code of conduct. However, Gama has dismissed the allegations arguing that Njazi was bringing up the accusations out of malice after he was evicted by Rudolph from the house.

Njazi has also reported the Sheriff of the High Court to the Zimbabwe AntiCorruption Commission over the same issue and investigations are underway.

Gama threatened to sue NewsDay when it first reported that he was under LSZ probe.