CA blocks �banished� Seloko
Isaac Pinielo | Friday August 25, 2017 16:16
Seloko had stood before the Commission introducing himself as representing wholesaler, Trade World, which was accused together with three other wholesalers of engaging in an anti-competitive conduct.
His introduction was met with strongest denunciation from the CA’s director of legal and enforcement, Duncan Morotsi, who stated that Seloko could not represent the wholesaler since he had been banished from practising as a lawyer.
“As far as I am concerned, my learned friend here has been restrained by a High Court judgement from practising as an attorney,” Morotsi said.
Quoting a paragraph from a judgement delivered by Lobatse High Court judge, Abednego Tafa, he said: “…Isaac Lesedi Seloko is hereby restrained and prohibited from practising as an attorney or holding himself out, as or pretending to be an attorney or making use of any words or name title addition or description implying that he is a legal practitioner recognised as such in terms of the Act, until such time as he has complied with Section 30 of the Act.”
Morotsi noted that the High Court judgement has rendered Seloko mute in any court of law, stressing that he should not be allowed to represent Trade World.
He further said Seloko had presented himself as an attorney because he had raised some points of law in his documents handed to the Commission.
In his defence, Seloko argued that there is nowhere that he ever presented himself as an attorney. He noted that he was at the Commission to represent the wholesaler as a consultant.
“I have never said I am an attorney, nor have I pretended to be one. As far as I am concerned, I am a consultant for the defendant, not an attorney,” he said.
He further said the Commission is not a court of law, arguing that his prohibition to practise as an attorney does not apply in an establishment such as a commission or a tribunal. Asked by the commissioners if he has ever represented someone as a consultant in such establishments as commissions or tribunals, Seloko answered in the affirmative.
Countering his argument, Morotsi explained that a court of law refers to a tribunal presided over by a judge, judges, or a magistrate in civil and criminal cases, noting that a commission is also regarded as a tribunal.
“This commission is a tribunal which falls under the definition of a court of law of which my learned friend is not allowed to practise in,” he said.
One of the commissioners, Tendekani Malebeswa informed Seloko that there is a likelihood that the matter before the Commission could be escalated to the High Court.
He therefore asked Seloko if he was willing to take the risk of continuing with the case before the commission, to which Seloko responded by requesting the Commission to give him some time to go and seek further advice. The case was adjourned.
Currently, the Law Society of Botswana is in the process of appointing curators to take control of Isaac Seloko Attorneys law firm and administer its trust accounts while awaiting the case of disbarment of the law firm owner scheduled for December.