A ruling in a legal battle between prominent local defence lawyer, Sisa Namandje and the Law Society of Namibia (LSN), is expected to be made public in the High Court on Friday.
Initially, High Court Judge Herman Oosthuizen, who is presiding over the matter, was scheduled to give his ruling on 24 July 2020.
However, on Monday, a senior official in the Office of the Judiciary, Ockert Jansen officially confirmed to Nampa that the judgement on the legal tussle between the lawyer and the LSN will now be handed down on 17 July 2020.
In this legal showdown, the LSN wants the court to issue an order directing lawyer Namandje to open up his financial records for their ongoing investigations, but he is allegedly not cooperating with the body.
On his part, Namandje is fighting off the LSN in an attempt to clear his name over the accusations regarding his role in the alleged Fishrot corruption scandal that led to the arrest of two former senior Cabinet ministers – Bernhardt Esau and Sacky Shanghala.
During the hearing on 13 and 14 May 2020, Namandje’s defence lawyer, Advocate Raymond Heathcote addressed the court on some crucial technical matters in respect of the general interests of his client and the law firm.
Heathcote informed the court that the LSN has on numerous occasions since 2015 been asking Namandje regarding his alleged unprofessionalism and misconduct at the law firm regarding attorney-client confidentiality.
“The LSN has no legal powers to obtain a warrant for the searches of our client’s law firm. The Law Society of Namibia overstepped the legal boundaries when they asked our client – Sisa Namandje – to open up the financial records of his law firm to them for inspection and investigation,” said Heathcote in his heads of arguments.
According to Heathcote, a proper legal complaint should have been made before a magistrate’s court or any other law enforcement agency before the LSN begins to conduct inspections or investigations of any member of the LSN on alleged unsatisfactory conduct.
“Before one starts conducting inspections or investigations on any member of the LSN for alleged unsatisfactory misconduct, one should first and always be sure or have a reasonable belief that such a person is really guilty of the misconduct. After this, you should then approach the courts to obtain the financial records of his or her law firm,” explained Heathcote. He also said there is no legal power mentioned in the Legal Practitioners Act of Namibia to authorise the director of the LSN to investigate a lawyer or his or her law firm.
In her submissions, LSN lawyer Uno Katjipuka-Sibolile informed the court that its findings pertaining to prominent lawyer Namandje and his law firm will not be presented to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).
-Nampa