Lawyers arrested over fake court orders
HARARE – A deregistered Harare lawyer has been arrested at the High Court in Harare in connection with producing fake High Court orders that have rocked the justice delivery system. The suspect, Tichaona Mawere was arrested this Friday.
Events are said to have begun in the morning when one Francis Samara was arrested with fake High Court papers. After his arrest, Samara is said to have confessed that he was working on behalf of Mawere. As Samara was being escorted to the police, Mawere was spotted within the High Court yard.
He was immediately arrested and he is said to have confessed to the malpractice. The suspects were driven to Harare Central Police Station in the company of the arresting police officer and a lawyer Mr Shellton Mahuni of Mahuni and Mutatu whose name the suspect is alleged to have used in the criminal activities.
Mahuni said that his firm has suffered after his company letterhead was used in the fraudulent activities.
The matter has been building up amid fears that dangerous criminals are freely walking out of prisons following revelations that the justice delivery system is under threat from unscrupulous legal practitioners and judicial officers who are allegedly producing fake High Court orders.
A legal expert, Advocate Ashton Musunga has warned that such acts might impact negatively on the justice delivery system if not addressed quickly. “Forgery will have an impact on the justice delivery system,” said Advocate Musunga.
Experts also say this Friday’s arrest could mark the opening up of a Pandora’s Box as it takes the connivance of various people within the justice delivery system to effect the execution of a court order.
High Court orders are written on a special paper with unique security features which are constantly changed for security reasons. These orders are also signed by authorised signatories and not the judges.
Mawere is no stranger to controversy. In 2007 he was arrested on allegations of swindling his Congolese client of US$58 000 and a BMW vehicle worth US$30 000.
Mr Emmanuel Nkakoumoussou of Congo Brazzaville and employed by the World Health Organisation in Harare, had sought the services of Mawere to recover US$72 000 he had paid to buy a house in Harare.
In 2011 it was alleged Mawere helped another lawyer, Kevin Marondera of Muchandibaya and Associates, to swindle a man of US$29 000 in a residential property deal.
It was alleged Marondera teamed up with Mawere and made fake title deeds for a house that belonged to Seprunice Mapfirakufa.
