Mujuru's lawyer under probe

The Law Society of Zimbabwe will launch investigations into the misconduct of lawyer Mr Aston Musunga of Musunga and Associates after he dumped a Kenyan firm he was representing in a dispute with a Mujuru family company.

Despite receiving $5 000 in legal fees, Musunga and Associates, who had been representing Suzan General Trading since 2011, dumped their client and started acting for VP Mujuru in the dispute, raising questions of unethical conduct.

LSZ president Mr Lloyd Mhishi yesterday said the society would probe the law firm even if there was no complaint to protect the integrity of the profession and public confidence.

This follows reports that VP Mujuru received and signed for thousands of dollars in illegal cash payments from the Kenyan and Indian financiers for the duty-free shops before elbowing them out in a manner that bordered on extortion and abuse of office.

"Wherever and when we hear allegations of misconduct on the part of our members, we investigate and swiftly put in motion our disciplinary processes," said Mr Mhishi.

"We do so without fear or favour, but also taking into account principles of natural justice which among other things require us to give the other side a right to be heard."

In this case, Mr Mhishi said, the council of the lawyers' governing body would give Musunga and Associates a chance which allows the society to determine whether it is guilty of misconduct or not.

"We do this whether there is a complaint or not because what we are interested in is the image and integrity of the profession and maintain the public's confidence," said Mr Mhishi.

"We do not as well turn a blind eye to media reports, and we can actually investigate on the basis thereof."

A letter written to Suzan General Trading by Mr Musunga, the senior partner at Musunga and Associates, showed that the law firm was dumping its client because VP Mujuru was a senior member at Zanu-PF for which the law firm handles some cases.

Mr Musunga stated in the letter that there was going to be a conflict of interest if they continued representing Suzan General Trading.

On Thursday, Mr Musunga confirmed that Suzan General Trading approached them for legal assistance in the case in which the company alleged that its shops at the Harare International Airport were not being managed properly, including disputes over profit sharing.

Legal experts who spoke to The Herald yesterday on condition of anonymity since Mr Musunga is their colleague, slammed him for the improper conduct which they said brought the image of lawyers into disrepute.

"Certainly, it's not right and the aggrieved party has a right to complain to the law society and the law firm should be investigated for improper conduct," said a Harare senior lawyer.

Another senior lawyer said: "You cannot do that. Once you represent a client, there is a professional relationship that develops between lawyer and client because you receive certain privileged information from client.

"You cannot dump that client and represent the opponent because you may use that information against your former client."

During her highly subscribed "Meet the People" rallies in all the country's 10 provinces, First Lady Amai Grace Mugabe rapped VP Mujuru and called her to resign or risk being fired for alleged corruption, abuse of office, extorting shares from companies and demanding 10 percent bribes from potential investors.