The case of a lawyer in Motril that kept his client’s money, whilst only pretending that he was taking legal action in their name, has been found guilty.
The case goes back to September, 2010 when a couple hired Omar S.V. to represent them before the Motril law courts which were demanding a payment of 11,700 euros in court costs.
They advanced the lawyer 300 euros towards future expenses. He then asked for another 9,000 with which to settle the debt and thus end the ongoing judicial process against them.
Having agreed to this they handed over 3,000 euros in November 2010 and one month later another 6,000 euros via a bank transfers. According to this latest court sentence, he instead used the money on himself.
However in October 2013 the couple found out that the sum had not been paid over to the Motril law courts as agreed. They immediately sued the lawyer.
When the case against him started to gain momentum he presented a document (a supposed private contract between himself and his ex-clients) showing that he had returned the money – the document bore the falisfied signatures of the couple.
The Public Prosecutor considered the lawyer’s actions to be a case of criminal conversion, recommending three years’ imprisonment and the return of the 9,000 euros.
Here the Gazette will use a quote from Wikipedia to explain what ‘criminal conversion’ is:
“Criminal conversion is a crime… …of exerting unauthorized use or control of someone else’s property; at a minimum personal property, but in some jurisdictions also applying to types of real property, such as land (to squatting or holding over) or to patents, design rights and trademarks.
It differs from theft in that it does not include the element of intending to deprive the owner of permanent possession of that property. As such, it is a lesser offense than the crime of theft…”
Furthermore the Public Prosecutor concerning the forgery of the couple’s signature recommends another two years imprisonment. This second charge will go before the judge on the 27th of this month.
(News: Motril, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)