Shawa, 51, a trained lawyer was prosecuted in 2003 in Canada where he was practicing and admitted to stealing funds from clients. According to facts made available to Nyasa Times, he admitted to taking nearly $20,000 from the trust accounts of three clients.
A Canadian Press report of February 25, 2003 said Shawa entered a guilty plea to the nine charges and the Law Society disciplinary committee found him guilty of professional misconduct.
The court records sourced by Nyasa Times http://www.lawsociety.mb.ca/case_digest_00_03.htm says that between January and December, 1999, Shawa made five unauthorized withdrawals totaling $19,656.69 from his pooled trust bank account and charged the withdrawals to the trust ledgers of three separate clients.
In four of the cases, the cheques were written to friends or acquaintances who had requested that Shawa loan them money. In the other case, he wrote the cheque to a client to whom he owed money. On January 31, 2000, Shawa deposited $16,656.69 into his trust account to replace the unauthorized withdrawals.
Provincial court Judge Ronald Meyers who said he was flabbergasted by Shawas actions and motivation, ordered a conditional discharge and 200 hours of community service work.
The Law Society of Manitoba suspended him for 18 months, but he was allowed to return to his legal practice on a supervised basis.
Petitioners in Mzimba south constituency say respect for the Malawi National Assembly will be undermined if those convicted of criminal offences are not excluded from Parliament.
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