LUSAKA lawyer Nathaniel Inambao has been dragged to court by one of his clients who is demanding payment of USD14,000 which the counsel allegedly misappropriated.
The said amount was awarded to Howard Cooke in one of the cases as damages and paid to him through his lawyer Inambao, but the defendant allegedly never remitted the money to him despite several reminders.
In a statement of claim filed in the Lusaka High Court principal registry, Cooke stated that sometime in 2014, he engaged Inambao to represent him under cause No. 2014/HP/1454.
He stated that the two enjoyed a client-lawyer relationship and that after a successful conduct of the matter, he was awarded the amount of USD14,000 as damages under cause no 2014/HP/1454.
Cooke stated that the said amounts were then transferred to Inambao’s account for the purposes of the defendant transferring to him.
He stated that he waited for the money but to no avail and he tried to make inquiries as regards the same but Inambao’s response was that he had transferred the money when in fact not.
“On January 27, 2021, Inambao committed to pay the money within 45 days which he failed. The plaintiffs proceeded to write to Inambao in a letter dated November 4, 2021 which receipt was confirmed by the law firm. In response to the letter, the defendant admitted to owing the amount of USD14,000 to the plaintiff and further stated that he was unable to liquidate the same by lump sum and proposed to liquidate in installments of USD 5,000 per month starting December 2021 until full and final settlement,” the claim read.
He stated that he agreed to the proposal made by the defendant but Inambao had to date not made any payment liquidating the amount of USD14,000 misappropriated by him.
Cooke stated that the conduct of Inambao to his client amounted to gross professional misconduct.
He stated that he had consequently suffered loss and damage and he had been put out of use of the amount, legally belonging to him.
The plaintiff is now seeking an order against the defendant for the payment of the said amount, plus interest, damages and costs.
