An attorney in the Free State, on trial for allegedly defrauding a client, is already serving a sentence for fraud and has been disbarred. The accused, Mfana Meshack Ndobela (52), is reappearing in the Sasolburg Magistrates’ Court X the same courthouse where he was convicted and sentenced for fraud in March last year.
He is set to reappear in court on 30 August for the new matter, involving a client he allegedly defrauded of R21 000 in 2019. Charges for the ongoing matter include contravention of the Legal Practice Act, contempt of court as well as fraud relating to R21 000.
The pending matter emanates from a complaint by a client and the accused’s failure to comply with a court order. It is the culmination of an investigation by the Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime Investigation team based in Welkom.
WO Fikiswa Matoti, Free State spokesperson of the Hawks, says the contempt of court charge relates to the suspect’s failure to comply with the court order to hand over the files to the curator after being disbarred.
According to data of the Legal Practice Council (LPC), Ndobela was disbarred from practicing early March in 2018. It came to light he committed the second crime knowingly.
The council disbarred him for contravention of the Legal Practice Act X deliberately acting in a manner which goes against the ethical duties and conduct of legal practitioners to ensure accountability in the profession.
Matoti said the client paid Ndobela R21 000 for legal representation in his divorce matter. She said according to evidence gathered, the complainant paid the money in 2019.
Matoti said Ndobela failed to inform the complainant that he was no longer eligible to practice as an attorney after disbarment by the council the previous year.
Ndobela’s sentencing for fraud last year in March regards him defrauding a client of R41 000 in proceeds from a successful civil claim against the state, for the unlawful arrest of a client he represented. The state paid R60 000 to the trust account of Ndobela Attorneys, and the client never received the money. Findings revealed that compensation money was paid during 2016.
As part of the sentencing for the first fraud matter, the court ordered Ndobela to pay back the R41 000 within 90 days. He was also sentenced to three years direct imprisonment, wholly suspended for five years on the condition that he does not commit a similar offence during the period of suspension.
