Lawyer accuses himself of fraud

A private attorney is facing charges after he filed a complaint against himself alleging he had faked the attorney general’s signature.

(Click here for an update to the story)

According to Philenews, a 39-year-old licenced attorney in Paphos walked into a police station in July 2014 to file a report against himself, saying he had faked the attorney general’s signature a month earlier.

Two years prior to committing the offence, the lawyer was approached by a private citizen who wanted to file a lawsuit against the Republic of Cyprus over social benefits. The lawyer took on the case and filed the paperwork with the Paphos District Court.

But a year later, in 2013, the case was duly dismissed citing a failure on the part of the lawyer to serve the summons correctly. As the case was then being prepared to be archived, the attorney took it upon himself to file a report with police alleging his own crime.

According to Philenews, the lawyer had written a letter saying his client was to receive €5.5 million in damages and faked the signature of the attorney general, making it appear as the AG himself was the author of the document. The lawyer also reportedly told his client that he was a close friend of the attorney general.

The lawyer’s defence attorney addressed the court on Thursday asking for leniency prior to sentencing. He said his client had a clean criminal record, never received any monetary benefit in the case, and voluntarily went to the police station to report his crime.

The lawyer is currently free on bail while his sentencing day in court has been scheduled for April 4.