Lawyers representing the Zambian embassy have now written to Econet’s lawyers Mtetwa and Nyambirai Legal Practitioners offering to settle the debt which had stirred a wrangle among the two parties including the government which stood accused of aiding and abetting foreign governments to disregard court judgments.
“At the time you obtained judgment against our client, the capital owed had been reduced from US$4 63.33 to US$2 944.88 through payments made directly to your client. Could you kindly confirm with your client so that our client settles the US$2 944.88 together with interest and your costs,” the embassy’s lawyer Stephen Chibune of Chibune and Associates Legal Practitioners wrote in a letter to Econet’s lawyers.
The government, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had shielded the Zambian embassy from litigation by warning Econet that the Zambian embassy is protected by diplomatic immunity, which forbids the seizure of the embassy’s assets. This was after Econet started processes to attach the embassy’s property to recover $6 597.10 which the diplomatic mission was ordered to pay by the high court.
By agreeing to settle the debt the Zambian embassy ends a wrangle which had turned ugly after the mobile services provider accused the Zambian embassy of breaching diplomatic protocol.
Econet still has to recover some debt from the Angolan embassy. The mobile phone services provider had to resort to litigation to recover debts from prominent citizens such as Chiefs’ Council president, Fortune Charumbira and top Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe official Millicent Mombeshora.
Post published in: News