…says compelling LSL to withdraw Thejane fraud case an “injustice”
…compromises victim as a criminal case “will take forever” to complete
Mohloai Mpesi
LAW Society of Lesotho (LSL) president, Advocate Lintle Tuke, has accused Chief Justice Sakoane Sakoane of being “blinded” by his “hatred” for the law society.
That “hatred” had resulted in Justice Sakoane compelling the LSL to withdraw a civil case against lawyer, Adv Thejane Thejane, instituted against him for the alleged theft of M262 000 from a client.
On Monday, Justice Sakoane asked the LSL to withdraw a civil case it had instituted against Adv Thejane, for allegedly defrauding his client, ‘Mats’epang Setala, of the M262 000.
The money was part of a M350 000 settlement to Ms Setala from LNIG in lieu of a road accident compensation claim.
The insurance company had reached a settlement with Ms Setala in March this year and deposited the funds into the Thejane Chambers Trust account on May 14, 2024 and the lawyer had converted it to his own use (see story above).
Adv Thejane was entitled to only M88 000 of the M350 000, for legal fees as per the duo’s agreement.
LSL immediately approached the court and successfully secured an order freezing Adv Thejane’s Nedbank Account. But it appears there was no money left in the account.
When the matter was supposed to proceed on Monday Justice Sakoane told the LSL to stop “dancing to the gallery”, and giving Ms Setala false hopes.
Instead, he urged the LSL should to withdraw the matter and report Adv Thejane to the police, to be dealt with criminally (see story above).
In response to Justice Sakoane’s exhortations, a disappointed Adv Tuke told the Lesotho Times yesterday that now that the case had been withdrawn at Justice Sakoane’s behest, it would take at least five years before Ms Setala could get justice.
A successful civil claim would have at least ensured that Adv Thejane paid her back, he said.
“Who is playing for the gallery, when this poor woman’s money has been stolen? What we wanted was for the poor woman to have her money returned to her,” Adv Tuke said.
“We sought the court to direct Thejane to pay the woman’s money. Meaning if we were successful in court, we could have left with a court order, directing Thejane to pay that woman. Then we would work on enforcing that court order.
“Court orders are enforced. It could have been by holding his (Thejane’s) property and auctioning it off to pay back the money stolen from the poor woman.”
Adv Tuke said after securing an order that Nedbank freezes Adv Thejane’s account, statements therein indicated that only M4 remained in the account….
“But if you don’t have a court order, can you say you have helped the woman? Even if you have issues with the Law Society and the way it operates, the case belongs to this woman at the end of the day,” he said.
“She went to court supported by the Law Society that you don’t like. That you have opinions that Law Society is working parallel to the way it is supposed to, is neither here nor there.
“At the end of the day, your hatred towards the Law Society, has caused that poor member of the public to leave the court without help. A member of the public is deprived of her money and goes to court supported by Law Society. But you don’t like the Law Society, you have your own opinions about it and those opinions hinder you from giving that woman justice,” Adv Tuke said in remarks directed at the Chief Justice.
He wondered how Ms Setala would be compensated, now that Justice Sakoane had not ordered Adv Thejane to repay her.
“The question is, why did the court not order Setala to be paid her money? Is it because the Law Society is playing for the gallery?”
Ms Setala’s case could be treated in two ways, those being civil and criminal, he said.
Therefore, there was no need for Justice Sakoane to drag the police into a civil matter.
A criminal case could have been pursued later, he said.
“There can be two processes in one matter. Criminal and civil processes. Police are not included in civil matters, they only work on criminal cases,” he said.
Ms Setala had reported Adv Thejane to the LSL on the 18th of July this year.
On the same day, the LSL helped her to institute a civil lawsuit against her lawyer.
The lawsuit further sought to freeze Adv Thejane’s bank account into which the Ms Setala’s M350 000 had been deposited. It also sought an order for provision of his bank statements.
A court order on the same was issued the same day.
“It was through that statement that we were able to establish that there was no money in the account. Now, what we were seeking from court, was a final order directing Thejane to pay back the money.
“Now the Chief Justice says we ought to have reported the matter to the police. Who said we are not working on that? Because I don’t remember where the judiciary or Chief Justice ever wrote to us, asking about criminal processes,” Adv Tuke said.
“Criminal cases do not expire, meaning anytime a case can be filed. That criminal case is still going to be filed. But under the circumstances, which case was urgent? Is it not securing the woman’s payment first?”
He added: “Suppose a criminal case is filed and Thejane appears before the court, he applies for bail and is released. The case drags and take years, then is completed after five years. When the judgment is handed down, Thejane loses the case and sentenced to prison, or pays a fine, or maybe he wins the case.
“Now, how is this poor woman going to live when she must wait for five years? What if when judgement is finally handed down, it does not give this woman the real justice of getting her money back?”
The urgency was in securing the woman’s money, which has been denied by the Chief Justice, he said.
There were ongoing LSL internal processes instituted against Adv Thejane, he said, of which “not even once has the Chief Justice asked about”.
The only process to ensure that Ms Setala got her money had been invalidated by the Chief Justic, meaning “there is nothing we can do for this woman”.
“The only thing left is that Adv Thejane should face the consequences of his actions, although he cannot repay the money owed to this woman, because Chief Justice refused to order him to return her money,” Adv Tuke said.
“We sacrificed and forked out our money as the society to pay a lawyer fighting for this woman, about M30 000. It must be a very expensive playing for the gallery?” he remarked rhetorically.
“We did all in our power to get justice for this woman, but we failed. We are ashamed that Chief Justice’s personal feelings about Law Society, are standing in the way of this woman’s justice. We don’t know what Chief Justice has against her.”
Adv Tuke said if only Justice Sakoane was aware that the LSL was about to sign an MOU with the Lesotho Mounted Police Service (LMPS), to “work hand in hand with the police”.
“When the police investigate criminal offences against lawyers, the Law Society can provide relevant information against such lawyers. We discussed all that with Deputy Commissioner Morai, whom we had a meeting with,” he said.
“We are at the stage of signing a formal agreement, an MOU between the Law Society and the LMPS. The Chief Justice does not know anything about it. He just vents out his opinions in an open court, exercising his judicial functions. That is unfortunate.”
