“This is not acceptable and I can't wait.”
High Court Judge Justice Thushara Rajasinghe stressed this in the Suva High Court today after two Cyprus nationals who are jointly charged with 293 counts of money laundering and attempt to obtain property by deception informed the court that their lawyer, Aman Ravindra Singh's practicing certificate has expired.
Loizos Petridis and Cleanthis Petridis told the court that Singh has informed them that it will take two to three weeks to renew his practicing certificate.
Justice Rajasinghe then said that Aman Ravindra Singh should have known in advance that his practicing certificate was about to expire.
Lawyer Aman Ravindra Singh [File Photo]
He told the two accused to arrange a lawyer as soon as possible.
The two Cyprus nationals then asked the judge as to what they can do in relation to the money that they have already paid to Singh.
Justice Rajasinghe told them that they will have to directly deal with Singh about this issue.
He has given the accused three weeks to arrange a lawyer.
Loizos Petridis and Cleanthis Petridis were allegedly using fraudulent mastercards to withdraw money from ATMs nationwide and these blank cards had no inscriptions.
The two were residing at an apartment in Knolly Street and were allegedly paying off certain locals to send money to people in other countries including Bulgaria.
The total amount allegedly fraudulently obtained in this case was $209,000 with only a certain amount remitted to Bulgaria and other countries.
29 black mastercards and laptops containing information of various individuals was seized by Police.
The two arrived in Fiji from Cyprus on tourist visas and were arrested on the 19th December, 2017.
