Linda Kovi (34) of Kanoti and Partners Public Interest lawyers has been hauled to court answering to fraud charges after she allegedly forged a certificate to practice in Zimbabwe. Kovi appeared before Harare magistrate Stanford Mambanje who granted her US$300 bail.
She is expected back in court on August 7. Kovi, according to the state, acquired a Bachelor of Law from University of Africa in Zambia. The complainant is the State represented by Joe Zimba who is the Finance and Administration manager for Council for Legal Education.
According to court papers, sometime in 2019, Kovi graduated from the University of Africa in Lusaka, Zambia, with a Bachelor of Laws degree. For her to practise law in Zimbabwe she had to attain a certificate of conversions with the Council for Legal Education [CLE].
In 2020 she enrolled with CLE and started writing conversions examinations. The accused person registered and sat for four modules including Common Law 1 and 2, Criminal procedure and Evidence, in June 2020.
She only managed to pass Common law 2 and failed the other three. She went on to register and sit for three other modules namely Civil Procedure, Statutes and Ethics and she failed all the three modules. Investigations have also established that she did not write the Book-keeping module.
The accused person then connived and gave an undisclosed employee of the Council for Legal Education an undisclosed amount in order for her to facilitate printing of a certificate regardless of the accused person only passing one module.
The Council for Legal Education employee went on to give the money to Huggins Hardwork Duri who is already on remand. The certificate was processed although she had not passed the remaining Seven modules and it enabled her to be admitted as a Legal Practitioner.
By doing so, Kovi’s action caused prejudice to the good reputation and administration of the Council for Legal. Kovi went on to approach the High Court of Zimbabwe and made an application to be admitted as a legal Practitioner.
She submitted the fraudulently obtained certificate to the court portraying that she was a fit and proper person to be admitted as a Legal Practitioner. Acting upon the misrepresentation the accused was duly admitted as a legal practitioner.
Source NewZimbabwe
