HARARE – Linda Kovi, an administrator at Kanoti and Partners, and Huggins Duri, the Executive Secretary for the Council for Legal Education (CLE), appeared before the Harare Magistrates Court on fraud allegations.
The two accused individuals had applied for discharge at the close of the State’s case, but their application was dismissed.
It is the State’s case that Kovi graduated with a Bachelor of Laws Degree from a University in Zambia in 2019. To practice law in Zimbabwe, she needed to obtain a certificate of conversion from CLE.
Kovi allegedly enrolled with CLE in 2020 and passed three out of four modules. She, however, failed three additional modules and allegedly did not write the Book-keeping module.
The State alleges that Kovi approached Duri, seeking his assistance to fraudulently obtain the certificate of completion.
Duri allegedly included Kovi’s name on the list of successful candidates, resulting in the issuance of a certificate of completion. This enabled Kovi to be admitted as a Legal Practitioner by the High Court of Zimbabwe.
The matter will proceed to the defense case on August 19, 2024.
In another case, a 24-year-old man from Budiriro appeared before the Harare Magistrates’ Court on robbery charges involving over US$194,000.
According to allegations, the accused person, along with his accomplices, including the complainant’s driver, who is already in custody, hatched a plan to rob the complainant on August 4, 2024. The complainant was traveling from Bulawayo to Harare via Chivhu.
The accused person and his accomplices allegedly mounted a roadblock, pretending to be police officers and stopped the complainant’s Toyota Hiace motor vehicle.
They then threatened to arrest the complainant, opened the door, and forcibly grabbed a bag containing US$193,900, an iPhone 13 mobile phone, and motor vehicle keys before fleeing the scene in their getaway car, a Nissan Note.
The matter was reported to the police, leading to the arrest of the accused person and the recovery of US$100,442 and the Nissan Note.
The accused person was denied bail and is currently in custody at Parirenyatwa Hospital, where he is receiving treatment for a bullet wound sustained during his attempted evasion of arrest.
