Gospel musician Ivy Kombo and her husband Andy Kasi who are facing fraud allegations of illegally acquiring certificates to practice law in Zimbabwe by paying US$1 100 bribe have distanced themselves from the allegations.
The two said they had no reason to pay anyone anything as they followed the required procedures.
Yesterday, Kasi through his lawyer Mr Everson Chatambudza, while cross-examining the second witness Shorai Mupunga, a former employee at the Council for Legal Education, produced paperwork showing how he acquired his certificate.
Kasi said he applied in 2019 and in 2022 he received a letter signed by the council's chairperson Justice Slyvia Chirau that he had been exempted from writing eight conversion examinations and directing him to make a payment which he did on October 31, 2022.
This, according to Chatambudza, resulted in Kasi getting the conversion certificate.
The witness, Mupunga concurred with the defence that this shows a legitimate process.
She said she was not in a position to say that the two were not exempted because she never sat in the council that deliberated on the applications but based her allegation on the money she allegedly received and gave to Huggins Duri, the suspended executive secretary of CLE to facilitate the issuance of the certificates.
On her part, Kombo said she received the conversion certificate from CLE, signed by Justice Chirau and had no knowledge whether it was a product of the alleged fraud since she underwent all the procedures for her to be issued with a legitimate conversion certificate.
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Her lawyer Mr Admire Rubaya argued that it was not her place to investigate such as she obtained her certificate from a reputable institution.
Allegations are that they approached Mupunga, a CLE official to assist her in registering and writing the conversion examinations.
Sometime last year, Mupunga approached Duri, who indicated that he was able to facilitate the issuance of the conversion certificates, without writing the conversion examinations, if the couple paid US$1 100.
The two allegedly paid the money through Mupunga, who handed it to Duri, who then processed the certificates which certified that the couple had written and passed eight conversion subjects.
Mupunga told the court in her conversation with Kombo, there was never any talk about money or fraudulent acquisition of the certificates but that she inquired of the process to write the examinations.
The trial will proceed on Monday for cross-examination of the witness by Duri's lawyer Mr Oliver Marwa who took over after the other lawyers representing him had renounced agency.
