Nico general alleges fraudulent lawyers
Nico General Insurance Company has alleged that there is a fraudulent legal cartel that includes lawyers that specifically target motor insurance and are aimed at swindling the industry.
Speaking in Blantyre on Friday during a presentation of the company’s performance, Nico General Insurance Company, chief executive officer, Eric Chapola noted that this malpractice has driven up their costs and they will raise premiums by over 30 percent in 2014.
“We are there to pay claims that are genuine and are commensurate with the injuries that have been suffered. What we are seeing is lawyers claiming for injuries that are not there. Our interest is to pay people for what they have been injured and we must pay amounts that have been quantified by medical doctors and are correct.
“What we have are lawyers that are working for us, against lawyers that are working against us. As an industry we have taken up the issue with the chief justice, at least last year we did. The unfortunate part is we never received a response.
We gave them a lot of examples in what we think is unprofessional practice by some lawyers in Malawi. I hope the new chief justice will take time to look at these cases, review them and give us a response,” said Chapola.
He added that the fraudulent lawyers specifically set up legal firms, targeting accidents to swindle insurance companies.
Malawi Law Society secretary Felisah Kilembe was not readily available for an immediate comment.
However, Chapola added that there are some lawyers who are setting up law firms to target motor accidents and raise claims which are beyond the injuries.
He noted that these lawyers go as far as colluding with some members of the judiciary, medical officers and police officers.
However, presenting the financial highlights year on year to August 2013, Nico General’s total assets rose 37 percent to K10.7 billion, working capital increased 414 percent to K1.5 billion and cash resources went up 135 percent to K4.7 billion.
The insurance company which is wholly owned by Nico Holdings limited attributes the good performance to the May 2012 49 percent devaluation of the kwacha.
Chapola also noted that customers from other companies are moving to Nico General.
