Filenews 26 February 2022 - by Michalis Hadjivasilis
A lawyer who was facing four cases in the Disciplinary Board, was removed from the register of lawyers and so now he will not be able to practice the profession. All the cases concerned incompatible conduct with the profession, since she had received large sums of money from its clients who were not justified.
In fact, in one case, she collected €7,500 for allegedly "oiling" a judge, as she had reported to her client. All the decisions of the Disciplinary Council of Lawyers, which consists of Pavlos Pavlou, Pavlos Pavlidis and Alexia Kountouris, were issued on February 14 in the absence of the lawyer, since she was called and did not attend.
In the first case, the lawyer was accused of the fact that she showed irreconcilable conduct towards the profession and specifically that while she was a registered lawyer during or around 2015, she received from the complainant the sum of €35,000 for the registration of an application for divorce, an application for maintenance and an application for parental responsibility, telling the complainant that such a large amount is required to register these applications. She was also accused of the fact that she showed incompatible conduct towards the profession and specifically, that while she was a registered lawyer, in January 2015 she requested and received from the complainant the amount of €15,000 - to pay it as an "oiling" to the President of the Family Court, so that he could issue an order for full custody of the complainant's child. It was finally found that she received only the amount of €7,500 for the alleged oiling.
In the second case, the lawyer was abandoned for the fact that while she was a registered lawyer and represented the complainant in a property dispute case of the Nicosia Family Court, she showed irreconcilable conduct towards the profession of lawyer, since she failed to appear before the above Court for the continuation of the hearing, leaving the complainant without representation and rejecting the case. Also, in 2018, she assured the complainant that in the context of the Property Disputes case of the Nicosia Family Court, a decision was issued in favour of the complainant for the amount of €1,150,000- and that in 2019 she was proceeding with enforcement measures while the case was pending. Furthermore, in December 2016, she received from the complainant the amount of €5,000 by misleading her knowing that this was necessary as a guarantee for the case pending before the Court and refundable after the end of the case. This is something she has so far refused to do.
In the third case, the lawyer was accused that in the year 2018, she displayed disgraceful and/or fraudulent conduct towards the profession of lawyer, collecting from her complaining client the sum of €65,448 - misleading him knowingly that this was necessary as a guarantee for the issuance of various decrees by the Court and which would be refundable after the end of the cases. This is something she has so far refused to do.
In a fourth case, the lawyer was indicted for the fact that in August 2019 she fraudulently accepted her appointment by the complainant in a parental responsibility case and in a criminal case assigned to her by the complainant, knowing that she had not renewed her license by that date for the year 2019. Further that she took the amount of €10,000- against and as a down payment for cases, the handling of which she undertook, and which money has not yet been returned to the complainant.
For the purpose of imposing the sentence, account was taken of the seriousness of the disciplinary misconduct, the fact that the complainants have not been compensated and the lack of remorse on the part of the accused lawyer. Based on all the above, it was decided that the only appropriate penalty under the circumstances is that of deleting the name of the accused lawyer from the Register of lawyers.
It is noted that the lawyer has the right to appeal to the Court and challenge the decision of the Disciplinary Board.
