Man sentenced in car insurance fraud

A man in Paphos has been sentenced to 15 months after a judge convicted him of document forgery in selling fake car insurance.

The case involves a 53-year-old Romanian national who was selling fake insurance policies to unsuspected car owners back in 2014. According to Cyrus News Agency (CNA), the man pleaded guilty to 50 counts of circulating forged documents and pracising without an insurance agent licence.

In August 2014, the Romanian man was pretending to be an insurance agent and sold insurance policies to a total of 50 individuals. It later turned out that the documents were fake, issued by another individual who is believed to be the mastermind of the operation.

The amount stolen from unsuspected customers came to a total of €15,000, with the Romanian man getting a 15% cut according to CNA.

The mastermind was never apprehended despite having been named by the Romanian man, whose lawyer called on the judge to give her client a suspended sentence due to his secondary role and his personal circumstances.

The defence attorney also said her client had pocketed a total of €2250 from the scheme, an amount he was ready to give back to the customers.

But the Paphos District Court judge rejected the request, saying the secondary role along with admission of guilt, collaboration with authorities, and remorse were not sufficient to keep the man out of jail.

Two sentences of 15 and 6 months will run concurrently, according to CNA.

Knews could not confirm the identity of the alleged mastermind or whether he or she was a practising licenced insurance agent.