The trial of gospel musician Ivy Kombo and her husband, Admir Andy Kasi, accused of fraudulently obtaining conversion certificates in order to practice law in Zimbabwe, continued yesterday, with the state leading another witness who disavowed documents the couple tried to use.
The pair are jointly charged with suspended Council for Legal Education (CLE) Executive Secretary Hardock Huggins Dore. They were trained in law outside Zimbabwe.
There is a specific procedure that lawyers who attend university outside Zimbabwe must convert to Zimbabwean law before they can practice unsupervised in Zimbabwe. They have to take additional tests to add local content to their training in legal principles. In some cases, they may be exempted from some, but not all, of the eight exams, depending on what their university teaches.
Combo and Cassie are accused of fraudulently obtaining certificates without writing exams.
In his evidence in chief, CLE Examination Board Chairman, Mr Phulindlela Bongani Sibanda, told the court that he joined the CLE in 2021.
According to records in his office, Cumbo in 2019 applied for a CLE designation with the goal of being allowed to write the exams. He said he trusted the league so blindly that he would sign the certificates without checking the final list of students who passed the exams.
Mr Sibanda said he was merely the victim of periodic misrepresentation, which was why he signed false certificates.
According to their records, Combo’s file only contained the application without any other documents proving her exemption from writing transfers or taking exams. “She has her certificate that says she wrote and passed the exams but that is not true because she never sat the exams and was not exempted.
He added that her name was never on the list of students whose applications were submitted before the council to consider their exemption in July 2022.
“What I find surprising from my dealings with ZACC is that Kombo said she is exempt because she has a master’s degree in law but we do not fully exempt anyone as in all eight subjects. Most students from South Africa are exempted from writing the Common Law 1 and 2 examinations.
“Combo submitted an affidavit to the Supreme Court in which she stated that she wrote the exams and passed them, which contradicts her defence. Whoever told her that she was exempt from all subjects lied to her.”
Mr Sibanda said it was the same story with Kasi except he did not even apply for CLE. The trial continues on Thursday before Harare Regional Magistrate Ms Verisi Chakanyuka.
During cross-examination by defense counsel’s lawyers, Mr Sibanda was asked to comment on the confirmation letters that the two were exempted from writing all eight topics and should pay the fee of US$560.
He admitted that the features in the letter looked like theirs, but rejected the authenticity of CLE President Judge Sylvia’s signature on the document.
Mr Sibanda also denied the alleged receipt of the fee payments allegedly received by CLE accountant Mr Zimba saying they did not have such kind of receipt.
He said my role is the custodian of the certificates because he is the one who will send the list to Fidelity Printing Press, give Sibanda the certificates to sign and then take them to the judge to sign again before handing them over to the deserving candidates.
Mr Sibanda also admitted that he had no direct evidence against Kombo and Kasi that they colluded with Dore to produce the fake certificates.
He also did not deny that there was a possibility that Kasi had applied for CLE and that this information had been tampered with but since the application had been submitted before he joined CLE.
The trial continues on Thursday before Harare Regional Magistrate Ms Verisi Chakanyuka.
The State is represented by Mr. Anisu Shiringi while the defense counsel consists of Mr. Everson Chatambodza, Mr. Admir Rubaya and Mr. Oliver Marwa. Announce
