Law society to appeal Namandje Fishrot case

THE Law Society of Namibia (LSN) says it will appeal against a High Court judgement to inspect the financial records of lawyer Sisa Namandje’s firm as part of its investigation of his ties to the Fishrot corruption scandal.

In a statement to members dated 2 October this year, LSN director Retha Steinmann said the appeal would be made after the society sought legal advice.

She said an update would be provided at the annual general meeting scheduled for later this year.

In her statement, Steinmann indicated the LSN council believes the decision it took early this year to sue Namandje’s law firm for refusing to give the LSN access to its financial records was taken at a duly called and properly constituted meeting, and the councillors who did not declare any conflict of interest made the relevant decisions.

It was on the question whether the council had a quorom at its meeting that the court ruled against the LSN, Steinmann said.

She said since the rules of the LSN provide that five council members constitute a quorum, council is of the view that a quorum is not lost if councillors at a validly constituted meeting declare a conflict of interest in respect of a specific agenda point.

The LSN sued Namandje to force him to make the financial records of his law firm available, seeking a search-and-seizure warrant to allow it to inspect Sisa Namandje & Co Inc’s records in connection with N$23 million allegedly linked to the Fishrot scandal.

At the heart of the LSN’s investigation is the question whether the firm’s trust account was used for money-laundering activities.

The matter was brought to court after Namandje refused to allow the LSN access to his records.

His lawyer, Raymond Heathcote, argued only the council can investigate and that there is no provision in the Legal Practitioners Act or its rules authorising the LSN director to conduct an investigation of the books of account of a legal practitioner.

Six of the eight LSN council members recused themselves from the Namandje case because of their links to the Fishrot accused.

When he delivered his judgement in August, High Court judge Herman Oosthuizen dismissed the case with costs, saying the application was not properly and lawfully authorised.

“I am seriously concerned by the modus operandi followed by the Law Society of Namibia as the regulating body of all enrolled legal practitioners in Namibia in this matter. It displays an attitude by the council of the Law Society of Namibia and its elected councillors of distancing themselves from possible controversial decisions and procedure. They essentially put the director in the line of fire where not she, but they, are accountable,” Oosthuizen said when he delivered his judgement.

Contacted for comment yesterday, Namandje said: “I have no comment. Cases are fought in court. If they want to fight it in the media let them fight it in the media.”