Advocate Hassan Ebrahim Kajee.
- Hassan Ebrahim Kajee has been struck from the roll of advocates by the High Court in Johannesburg.
- The judgment came after the Special Investigating Unit referred Kajee to the Johannesburg Society of Advocates for inflating invoices and overcharging for alleged services rendered to the office of the State Attorney.
- Kajee has been ordered to pay for the Johannesburg Society of Advocates’ legal costs for this application.
Lawyer Hassan Ebrahim Kajee has been struck from the roll of advocates by the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg, after allegedly defrauding the State Attorney of over R34 million in 17 months.
The judgment came after the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) referred Kajee to the Johannesburg Society of Advocates for inflating invoices, invoicing for services not rendered and overcharging for alleged services rendered to the office of the State Attorney.
Kajee was admitted as an advocate of the High Court of South Africa on 29 May 1995 and became a Johannesburg Society of Advocates member on 1 May 2006.
According to court papers, the society had written to Kajee in September 2018 asking him to make his fee book and invoices for the period January 2012 to August 2018 available to the professional fees committee of the Bar Council.
Instead of complying with the request, Kajee resigned as a member of the society on 26 September 2018.
The SIU welcomes the ruling to strike off Hassan Ebrahim Kajee from the roll of advocates by the High Court of South Africa, Gauteng Division, Johannesburg. https://t.co/eLECMJbBPk
— Special Investigating Unit (SIU) (@RSASIU) June 8, 2023
On 2 October 2018, an interim order was granted, suspending Kajee from practising as an advocate.
In his answering affidavit opposing the final granting of the order, Kajee denied that he had made himself guilty of misconduct and dishonesty relating to overreaching.
He said he resigned as a Johannesburg Society of Advocates member and accordingly, the Society had no power, jurisdiction, or authority to discipline him or bring an application for his suspension or striking off.
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Kajee said they had no right to access his books of account because he had resigned from the society.
He further said the fees he had been charging were fair and reasonable.
According to the court papers, on 19 October 2018, he was suspended from practising as an advocate pending the final outcome of an investigation into his misconduct and/or to have his name struck off the roll of advocates.
He was ordered to furnish the applicant with the original fee book from 1 January 2015 to 26 September 2018. He also had to provide true copies of bank statements and invoices.
In the High Court ruling, mention was made of the founding affidavit by the society’s Ian Green.
It said:
In para 16, advocate Green points out that the amount of R34 million charged to the State Attorney by Kajee equals an amount of R66 950 per day, every calendar day over a period of 511 days. He says that is impossible for any counsel whose highest … rate over that period was … R25 000 per day.
Handing down judgment this week, judges Motsamai Makume and Willem Wepener found that Kajee’s dishonest conduct effectively stood uncontested and had “therefore been established on a preponderance of probability”.
“The nature and extent of Kajee’s misconduct can lead to no other conclusion than that he is not a fit and proper person to continue to practice as an advocate. The name of Hassan Ebrahim Kajee is struck off the roll of advocates,” read their judgment.
Kajee was ordered to pay for the Johannesburg Society of Advocates’ legal costs for this application.