THE Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) has unmasked a scam in which Council for Legal Foundation executive secretary Huggins Hardwork Duri was allegedly issuing certificates of competency to law students studying in foreign universities.
The scam was unearthed after Zacc received information from a person who was supposed to write a conversion examination. Duri (40) yesterday appeared before Harare magistrate Stanford Mambanje charged with criminal abuse of office and was granted US$500 bail.
The Council for Legal Education is a statutory board charged with regulating legal education and training. The council is also responsible for designating foreign legal qualifications and administration of conversion examinations, which holders of foreign legal qualifications have to pass in order to register and practise law in Zimbabwe.
Duri’s duties involved overseeing the day-to-day running of the council. It is the State’s case that on June 19 this year, Duri met students who had completed their law studies at the University of Zimbabwe as a bridging programme after attaining legal qualifications from foreign universities.
At the meeting, Duri allegedly offered to assist the students to be exempted from writing the conversion examination offered by the council. It is alleged that on June 20, the accused met the informant and undertook to assist him to obtain the certificate that would enable him to register as a lawyer.
He allegedly advised the informant to register for the examination and pay US$560 registration fee after which Duri would ensure that he gets the certificate even if he failed the test. On June 21, the informant reported the matter to Zacc, leading to Duri’s arrest while receiving the money.
Zacc established that Duri had fraudulently issued 19 certificates to various individuals, some of whom were already practising as bonafide lawyers. The State alleges that his actions had the potential of negatively tarnishing the reputation of the legal fraternity.
Source Newsday
