High-charging NDC lawyers’ fees slashed

THE taxation committee of the Law Society of Namibia has slashed the bills that two lawyers presented to the Namibia Development Corporation for their work as part of a three-person panel that dealt with the disciplinary hearing of suspended NDC MD Abdool Aboobakar and Finance Manager Addis Faul.

The accounts that lawyers Lucius Murorua and Nate Ndauendapo sent to the NDC about two months ago for their work as members of the disciplinary panel, have been cut by a combined close to N$800 000 after the Law Society’s Standing Committee on Taxation considered the fees that the two lawyers charged the NDC. Wessel !Nanuseb, Acting Managing Director of the NDC, confirmed yesterday that the two lawyers’ accounts have been cut by the taxing committee.The NDC has in the meantime paid these reduced accounts, he said.!Nanuseb did not want to reveal the exact figures involved, and referred further enquiries to the NDC Board.Another source however stated that the taxation committee cut each of the two lawyers’ accounts by N$396 480.Murorua had initially sent a bill to the tune of N$657 000 to the NDC for the work he performed as a member of the Aboobakar-Faul disciplinary committee.Ndauendapo charged the NDC N$646 000 for the job.At the time that the issue of the unusual size of their accounts first made it into the media in early April, Murorua estimated the amount of time that he devoted to work on the disciplinary hearing at “close to two months”.Ndauendapo said about 11 days were devoted to the job.Fees that they charged for the perusal of documents related to the disciplinary hearing – this was mainly for reading some 2 000 pages of the written record of the hearing – accounted for the bulk of their accounts.Each of them billed the NDC N$482 880 in perusal fees alone, at a rate of N$120 per folio – which is a hundred words, or about half an A4-sized page.That rate is strictly in line with the Law Society’s tariff guidelines, the two lawyers have pointed out all along.The President of the Law Society, Elise Angula, said that the taxation committee had found that it would have been more appropriate to have charged a time-related fee, rather than a perusal fee, for that part of the work that Murorua and Ndauendapo did for the NDC.In determining whether a legal practitioner’s fees have been correctly charged or not, part of the question is whether the fees are reasonable, she indicated.Only if charging a time-related fee would be unreasonable, would a lawyer normally charge a perusal fee, she said.On the other hand, if charging a perusal fee would turn out to be unreasonable, a legal practitioner would be expected to rather calculate his fees according to the amount of time actually spent on a job, she added.Murorua was very brief when he was contacted for comment yesterday.”I do not wish to talk to you, please,” he said before he hung up the phone.Ndauendapo could not be reached for comment.Wessel !Nanuseb, Acting Managing Director of the NDC, confirmed yesterday that the two lawyers’ accounts have been cut by the taxing committee.The NDC has in the meantime paid these reduced accounts, he said.!Nanuseb did not want to reveal the exact figures involved, and referred further enquiries to the NDC Board.Another source however stated that the taxation committee cut each of the two lawyers’ accounts by N$396 480. Murorua had initially sent a bill to the tune of N$657 000 to the NDC for the work he performed as a member of the Aboobakar-Faul disciplinary committee.Ndauendapo charged the NDC N$646 000 for the job.At the time that the issue of the unusual size of their accounts first made it into the media in early April, Murorua estimated the amount of time that he devoted to work on the disciplinary hearing at “close to two months”.Ndauendapo said about 11 days were devoted to the job.Fees that they charged for the perusal of documents related to the disciplinary hearing – this was mainly for reading some 2 000 pages of the written record of the hearing – accounted for the bulk of their accounts.Each of them billed the NDC N$482 880 in perusal fees alone, at a rate of N$120 per folio – which is a hundred words, or about half an A4-sized page.That rate is strictly in line with the Law Society’s tariff guidelines, the two lawyers have pointed out all along.The President of the Law Society, Elise Angula, said that the taxation committee had found that it would have been more appropriate to have charged a time-related fee, rather than a perusal fee, for that part of the work that Murorua and Ndauendapo did for the NDC.In determining whether a legal practitioner’s fees have been correctly charged or not, part of the question is whether the fees are reasonable, she indicated.Only if charging a time-related fee would be unreasonable, would a lawyer normally charge a perusal fee, she said.On the other hand, if charging a perusal fee would turn out to be unreasonable, a legal practitioner would be expected to rather calculate his fees according to the amount of time actually spent on a job, she added.Murorua was very brief when he was contacted for comment yesterday.”I do not wish to talk to you, please,” he said before he hung up the phone.Ndauendapo could not be reached for comment.