A former KwaZulu-Natal attorney, disbarred 15 years ago for misappropriating R2 million in trust funds, has been denied reinstatement. The Legal Practice Council and the Legal Practitioners Fidelity Fund opposed his application due to his failure to provide a detailed account of the misappropriated funds and his lack of significant repayment towards his debt.
A former KwaZulu-Natal attorney, who misappropriated R2 million in trust funds , has been dealt with a blow in his attempt to be reinstated as a legal practitioner.Moodley was disbarred 15 years ago for the unauthorised use of trust funds .
He explained that he had hired a senior lawyer for a complex criminal case, with the advocate initially estimating fees of R350 000.The advocate later reduced the outstanding balance of R200 000 to R152 000, a sum that Moodley ultimately paid by misappropriating funds from his trust account.As the client could only provide R337 000, Moodley used an additional R173 000 from the trust account to cover the remaining amount of the fine.
“At the time of his removal from the roll, he had an outstanding debt of R550 000 to money lenders and was making monthly repayments of R65 000 by misappropriating monies from the trust account. “It has been confirmed that there is no intention to prosecute the applicant. Therefore, these matters have been addressed satisfactorily.”Nicholson highlighted that while Moodley’s “relative inexperience and youth” could be considered mitigating factors, his actions and character at the time were not sufficient to meet the standards required to be considered a “fit and proper person” to manage client affairs.
“He claimed he resigned to work on his readmission application, but since it’s not a full-time job, he could have been employed from 2017 to 2020 and used that income to repay the second respondent.
DISBARMENT REINSTATEMENT LEGAL PRACTITIONER TRUST FUNDS MISAPPROPRIATION
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