Chance for solicitor

Press, 22 June 1989, Page 34

Chance for solicitor

No further action will be taken against Mr Romeo Margaritis, the Christchurch solicitor acquitted of conspiring of defraud the i Inland Revenue Department in March, the Council of the Canterbury District Law Society has decided. Mr Margaritis was one of two men acquitted in a 12-day High Court trial. Five others were convicted of a GST refund claims fraud.

The president of the law society, Mr Chris McVeigh, said the council met on Tuesday to consider a report from its complaints committee

that no further action be taken against Mr Margaritis. The committee had . investigated Mr Margaritis’s actions, received the relevant documents and written submissions from Mr Margaritis. The committee was also able to question Mr Margaritis, who was represented by his counsel, Mr Nicholas Till. Mr McVeigh said the council had adopted the recommendation of the committee. Mr Margaritis had been acquitted by a jury. “The council must accej|t that verdict and can-

not substitute its own opinion for that of the jury. This verdict encompassed, effectively, all of the factors relevant to the practitioner’s conduct under the Law Practitioners Act,” he said. “The events that have taken place have clearly had a profound and salutary effect upon Mr Margaritis and his approach to practice. “The council feels that he should be given the opportunity to demonstrate that this is so, and believes that he will take full advantage of such an opportunity,” Mr McVeigh