THE High Court has frozen the bank account of Advocate Thejane Thejane, a Maseru lawyer, after he allegedly embezzled M262 500 from a client’s insurance claim. The decision to freeze the account, held with Nedbank Lesotho, came after the client, ’Matšepang Setala, filed an application at the High Court.
This content is for subscribers only. To subscribe, Click Here. Or Sign In
The Law Society of Lesotho joined the case as the first applicant after Setala reported Advocate Thejane’s unethical behaviour to it.
Setala, from Ha-Matala in Maseru, had also asked the court to interdict Nedbank from permitting any access and transactions under the names of Thejane Chambers Trust to any party.
She also asked the court to direct Nedbank to furnish her and the Law Society with a record of transactions or statements on Thejane Chambers Trust account for an amount of M350 000 paid to her by the insurance company in respect of a Motor Vehicle Accident claim.
She asked the court to order Advocate Thejane to pay her the M262 500 she says is due to her.
In an explosive affidavit Setala says she filed an insurance claim with the Lesotho National General Insurance Company under the Motor Vehicle Accident Insurance Order.
The company transferred M350 000 to Advocate Thejane on her behalf.
Her lawyer, Attorney Katleho Phenduka, told the court in a certificate of urgency that Advocate Thejane had failed to remit the money to Setala.
Attorney Phenduka said “there is (an) inherent possibility that by now the funds are not even there anymore, therefore, necessitating the expedited hearing” of the case.
“It goes without saying that per the Legal Practitioners Act of 1983, an Advocate does not have the necessary capacity to administer a trust account,” Attorney Phenduka said.
“Beyond the ethical impropriety of an advocate seeking to maintain a trust account and receive funds on behalf of a client, it shall be proven that (Advocate Thejane) has failed to transfer funds to me, in contravention of the Legal Practitioners’ Act,” Setala said.
“Despite several demands and intervention by the (Law Society), (Advocate Thejane) has failed to transfer funds to me notwithstanding his ethical and legal obligation to do so,” she said.
“I entertain a well-founded fear and apprehension that (Advocate Thejane) has misappropriated my funds.”
She told the court that sometime in 2019, she filed a case against the insurance company under the Motor Vehicle Accident Insurance Order.
The case dragged on for four years until they reached a settlement through mediation on March 14 this year.
She said on settlement she met Advocate Thejane who prepared a special power of attorney authorising himself to collect the awarded funds that would be deposited into the Thejane Chambers Trust account held with Nedbank.
She said she called Advocate Thejane on July 10 to enquire about the payment.
Advocate Thejane, she said, told her “in unequivocal terms that funds had not been allocated by the (insurance company) and that it would be a long time until I receive the money”.
Disheartened by the revelation, she said, she went to the insurance company the following day and two days later the company called her saying it paid Thejane Chambers Trust on May 14, exactly two months after the day of settlement.
She attached proof of payment to her court papers.
She then confronted Advocate Thejane with the new information and he “attributed his failure to report receiving the funds to sheer inadvertence in that he had not realised that the funds had actually been transferred to him”.
This was an omission he claimed to have become aware of after he checked his banking records and email correspondence with the insurance company after telephonic conversation with Setala on July 12.
She said the lawyer asked for her banking details so that he could transfer the money, which he never did.
Advocate Thejane was to transfer M262 500 out of the M350 000 the insurance company paid him.
She said Advocate Thejane ignored her WhatsApp messages, telephone calls, and when she went to his office he was unavailable.
She asked several lawyers to help locate Advocate Thejane but they could not find him.
She approached the Law Society on July 18, where she was referred to Attorney Phenduka for the facilitation of this case.
Nkheli Liphoto
