Fitty says his legal fees are N$22k a day
JEMIMA BEUKES
WINDHOEK
Fishrot accused Tamson ‘Fitty’ Hatuikulipi says if his assets are not unfrozen by the State, he will struggle to pay N$22 000 a day for his lawyer for the upcoming legal work regarding his case.
The daily rate for his current lawyer Richard Metcalfe is N$22 000, while he has to cough up N$18 000 for junior partner Florian Beukes and N$14 000 for each of the additional lawyers that will assist them on the matter.
Hatuikulipi, whose estate stands at an impressive N$53 million, said he has opted for local lawyers who are more affordable than roping in foreign senior counsels such as South African lawyer Wim Trengove, whose daily rate stands at N$40 000.
He is afraid that his lawyers – who are also representing his father-in-law Bernhardt Esau - may desert him as he has been unable to pay legal fees standing at a combined N$856 139 since November last year when Prosecutor-General Martha Imalwa won a restraining order to freeze his and his co-accused’s assets.
Hatuikulipi is now pleading with the High Court to release this money from his restraint estate as well as an additional N$1.5 million for upcoming legal work including the Fishrot criminal trial and bail hearings which should be paid to Metcalfe Beukes Attorneys.
Fees are ‘reasonable’
Hatuikulipi said he has been informed that his future legal fees may run in the vicinity of N$1.5 million, which he should pay to retain the services of his lawyers – money he simply won’t have if the restraint order is not lifted.
According to him, these requested fees are reasonable if one is to consider that the lawyers must peruse no less than 7 000 pages, which do not even include the intervening applications and the interlocutory applications throughout.
“The disclosure provided to my legal practitioners under the criminal case in the High Court comprises of 40 volumes of lever arch files, which my legal representatives are to peruse and scrutinise in consultations with myself in preparation of my defence to the allegations.
“The collective witness list amounts to 342 witnesses and the revised indictment indicates 42 counts with alternative counts, and is 144 pages long,” he said.
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WINDHOEK
Fishrot accused Tamson ‘Fitty’ Hatuikulipi says if his assets are not unfrozen by the State, he will struggle to pay N$22 000 a day for his lawyer for the upcoming legal work regarding his case.
The daily rate for his current lawyer Richard Metcalfe is N$22 000, while he has to cough up N$18 000 for junior partner Florian Beukes and N$14 000 for each of the additional lawyers that will assist them on the matter.
Hatuikulipi, whose estate stands at an impressive N$53 million, said he has opted for local lawyers who are more affordable than roping in foreign senior counsels such as South African lawyer Wim Trengove, whose daily rate stands at N$40 000.
He is afraid that his lawyers – who are also representing his father-in-law Bernhardt Esau - may desert him as he has been unable to pay legal fees standing at a combined N$856 139 since November last year when Prosecutor-General Martha Imalwa won a restraining order to freeze his and his co-accused’s assets.
Hatuikulipi is now pleading with the High Court to release this money from his restraint estate as well as an additional N$1.5 million for upcoming legal work including the Fishrot criminal trial and bail hearings which should be paid to Metcalfe Beukes Attorneys.
Fees are ‘reasonable’
Hatuikulipi said he has been informed that his future legal fees may run in the vicinity of N$1.5 million, which he should pay to retain the services of his lawyers – money he simply won’t have if the restraint order is not lifted.
According to him, these requested fees are reasonable if one is to consider that the lawyers must peruse no less than 7 000 pages, which do not even include the intervening applications and the interlocutory applications throughout.
“The disclosure provided to my legal practitioners under the criminal case in the High Court comprises of 40 volumes of lever arch files, which my legal representatives are to peruse and scrutinise in consultations with myself in preparation of my defence to the allegations.
“The collective witness list amounts to 342 witnesses and the revised indictment indicates 42 counts with alternative counts, and is 144 pages long,” he said.
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