A court in Astana revoked the licence of lawyer Svetlana Nurlatova following proceedings on a lawsuit brought by the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The basis was documents regarding the payment of a legal fee of 37.52 million tenge, which were used in court as confirmation of expenses, although actual payments were not made.
HOW THE DISPUTE BETWEEN THE COMPANIES AROSE
According to Hronika.kz, Svetlana Nurlatova represented the interests of TEC International LLP under a power of attorney in a court dispute with the Republican State Enterprise "KazAeroNavigation".
The Specialised Inter-District Economic Court of Astana had previously ordered the recovery from "KazAeroNavigation" of:
- 20,514,433 tenge in debt;
- 37,520,000 tenge in costs for the lawyer's services.
To confirm the expenses, the company "TEC International" presented payment documents showing a transfer of funds through ForteBank JSC.
WHAT THE COURT FOUND WHEN CHECKING THE PAYMENTS
Later, during the consideration of the case in the appellate instance, it emerged that the submitted payment documents did not confirm the actual payment for the lawyer's services.
The court established the following:
- one payment of 520 thousand tenge was returned by the bank to the sender with the note "refund of erroneously paid amount";
- the second payment of 37 million tenge was not actually made.
Initially, the amount claimed from "KazAeroNavigation" in this case was 683,814,419 tenge.
After the review, the appellate court changed the initial decision. The amount to be recovered from "KazAeroNavigation" was reduced to 231,527,716 tenge, and the claim for compensation of legal fees was rejected.
WHY THE MINISTRY OF JUSTICE FILED A LAWSUIT
Following these events, the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Kazakhstan filed a separate lawsuit in court seeking the revocation of the lawyer's licence.
The court stated that documents confirming payment for legal services were used in the case, despite the absence of actual payments. These documents were used in court as evidence of legal costs.
The court's decision notes that the lawyer's actions violated:
- Article 10 of the Code of Professional Ethics for Lawyers ("Compliance with norms of professional and ethical conduct");
- Article 11 of the Code of Professional Ethics for Lawyers ("Freedom to determine the limits and scope of providing legal assistance").
The court also stated that such actions exceed the limits of permissible professional discretion for a lawyer and indicate a failure to comply with the principles of legality, good faith, and respect for the court.
WHAT DECISION THE COURT MADE
The court concluded that the violations identified demonstrated a loss of the trust required to practice as a lawyer.
Consequently, the Inter-District Civil Court of Astana upheld the claim of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Kazakhstan and revoked Svetlana Nurlatova's lawyer's licence.
Furthermore, after information about the situation became known, a submission from the prosecutor's office regarding TEC International LLP and the lawyer was registered with the police authorities to address the question of potentially initiating criminal proceedings. The case materials do not clarify whether a procedural decision has been made on this matter.