MPs slam legal aid ceiling for bondholders

A request by the House legal affairs committee to scrap up to €2,000 in legal aid for bondholders and instead have the state cover the court costs is still awaiting an answer from the justice ministry, committee chairman Sotiris Sampson said on Wednesday.

Speaking after a session where the proposal – part of a government bill – was discussed, Sampson said the justice ministry was considering a group legal action for bondholders and he slammed the €2,000 ceiling and a provision that any additional costs would be covered by the applicant.

Bearing in mind that when a court case is lost, the loser pays and has to deal with legal costs and stamp duties, bondholders would have no way of paying as they had already lost a lot in the banking haircut.

Sampson said the committee’s view was that legal aid should cover the full court costs and that the €2,000 ceiling should be scrapped. They are now waiting for a response from the justice ministry.

AKEL MP Aristos Damianou said there was no way €2,000 could cover a court case that would probably last three years.

Chastising the government he said they submitted a bill on providing legal aid to bondholders with a €2,000 cap for every case but then vowed to bring a bill with a different amount. Instead, they kept the same amount but added a subsequent provision to cover issues relating to the remaining expenses of the applicant.  Sampson said the matter should be discussed and be voted as a law before the end of the year.

Wednesday’s session also discussed a harmonising bill on information system attacks creating criminal offences such as illegally interfering with information systems, illegal data interference and interception.

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