Paphos district court on Thursday sentenced a lawyer to four months in prison for forging the signature of the attorney-general.
The 39-year-old lawyer was found guilty of four charges of forgery and circulation of a forged document.
In court, the defendant’s attorney pleaded for mitigation on the grounds that the man did not gain financially from the forgery and he had no criminal record to date.
When making its decision, the court however argued that a lawyer should not break the law and commit fraudulent actions.
The offences in question were committed between June 20 and June 23, 2014.
The defendant, a 39-year-old lawyer, reported his offences of his own volition to the police on July 1, 2014.
The lawyer had been approached by a client, who told him he had an ongoing dispute with the government relating to benefits he was claiming.
In 2012, the client told the lawyer that he had filed a suit against the Republic for the same matter.
The law suit was dismissed in 2013.
The same lawyer subsequently composed a letter and signed it as the attorney-general. The letter falsely stated that the client in question had been awarded €5.5 million in compensation.
The lawyer also admitted to police that he had assured his client that he was a personal friend of the attorney-general.
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