Filenews 9 March 2023
There has been a significant increase in the number of complaints filed against lawyers for disciplinary misconduct and examined by the Disciplinary Council of the Cyprus Bar Association. In 2022, there were 165 complaints, a record number since 2009.
According to data provided yesterday by the president of the lawyers Christos Clerides, from 2009 to February 2023, 1,785 complaints were submitted. In the years 2020, 2021 and 2022 (tenure of the current Board of Directors of lawyers) complaints show an increasing trend and the cases of golden passports contributed to this. According to Mr. Clerides, 26 law firms have been inspected on the issue of golden passports and there is supervision of the sanctions that have been imposed. He said that these cases are primarily examined by the Council of the Cyprus Bar Association, which is the competent supervisory authority under the relevant legislation on money laundering. On the issue of passports, he continued, checks have been carried out in 26 law firms, four of which have been served with an indictment, five have already been issued and served guilty verdict, while three have already been sentenced and served. For five law firms, he said, a report has been prepared and is being studied by the anti-money laundering department of the GPP, while in one case a criminal case is pending, which is being handled by the Legal Service. Eight cases have been closed after there was no finding or proof of an infringement, Mr Clerides said.
He also clarified that the Council and the Disciplinary Board of the GPP operate in parallel, adding that the relationship of the Disciplinary Board with the cases related to the issue of passports is expressed in two ways. The first is to refer cases to the Disciplinary Board for collection of fines. So far, he added, fines of about €200,000 have been collected for compliance by law firms. The second way concerns the behaviour of lawyers in relation to the issue of passports. In this case, Mr. Clerides said, there was a conviction and a sentence imposed on a lawyer, who referred the case to the Court of Appeal.
For her part, Alexia Kountouri, a member-coordinator of the Disciplinary Board, said that from the beginning three main axes had been set as a priority, which are the acceleration of procedures, transparency in actions and improvement of trust in the Disciplinary Board. In order to achieve these objectives, Ms. Kountouri explained, the Disciplinary Board created three permanent teams for faster and more effective investigation of cases. Furthermore, Ms. Kountouri said that of the 1,785 complaints, only 957 were taken over by the new Disciplinary Board. He noted that 181 complaints were withdrawn by the complainant, 442 were rejected at the preliminary stage, while for 15 one of the two parties died. In 20 cases the defendant was acquitted, 258 are in progress, while another 17 were referred to another body. In addition, he said 24 convictions were handed down. In 12 cases, a fine was imposed, two a reprimand, four deprivation of a licence to practice the profession and six were removed from the Register.
The convictions of lawyers concern: Previous conviction by a Court for offences containing moral obscenity, e.g. attempt to introduce illegal substances into prisons, withholding of clients' money (from the sale of property, from rents, etc.), failure to inform about the progress of the case, copying by trainees during the examination process of the Legal Council, etc.
