MARIOS Shiaeles, a Limassol based lawyer, and his wife Niki Fasaria fled Cyprus in September 2006 after allegedly carrying out a series of property frauds on clients totalling in excess of 3.6 million Cyprus Pounds.
The alleged victims included at least seven different nationalities, with some investors losing hundreds of thousands of pounds.
International arrest warrants were issued and in June last year we reported that that the couple had been found and Shiaeles was apprehended. He appeared in court June 7 and was bailed to appear in the Limassol District Court on July 16.
It seems that Shiaeles and his original lawyer parted company, causing the trial to be adjourned while Shiaeles instructed another lawyer to represent him.
The trial has now been concluded and we have been advised by one of his victims that Shiaeles has been sentenced to 15 months in jail by a judge at the Limassol District Court.
I was one of those swindled, not just by Marios Shiaeles but Niki Fasaria his wife as well. I relatively small amount £36,000 Cyprus pounds. She was not only his wife but a partner in the firm and a UK trained solicitor. In fact at the time all this happened she was conducting nearly all the business that I had with their firm. She is equally culpable but I understand she has been charged with nothing.
This is what having good family connections in Cyprus means and why I am very happy not to live there anymore. Not all Cypriot professionals are tarred with the same brush but many are.
This sentence is a joke and the judge who handed it down clearly as much a crook and as bad as those he is sentencing. Just goes to show what a poor and corrupt system it is in Cyprus.
So the saying “But this is Cyprus” still goes on.
I haven’t any news about money that’s been recovered, but I hear that investigators are ‘on the case’.
Is it correct to assume no money was recovered? He is paying lawyers to represent him.
3.6 million return on a 15 month investment (of time with remission). Sounds like s good deal to me. Would this put any other lawyers off committing the same crime, ? or just alert them to the possibility?
Bet he won’t lose his lawyers licence either.
130,000 people have been sentenced to years of uncertainty, not knowing if or when they will lose their homes.
I would happily take 3 million pounds in exchange for 15 months and time off for good behaviour.
Clearly, crime pays big dividends.
15 months – £4m. Assuming an 8 hour working day that’s approximately £1590 per hour. And they say crime doesn’t pay……
Found guilty, appeared in court after being arrested on an international warrant and then – GIVEN BAIL. Still no official comment on his sentence by Limassol District Court
This sentence is a complete joke.
Cyprus courts – as corrupt as ever; so much for making the country attractive for investors/buyers!
Can I presume this lawyer will be released on licence after serving only half of his paltry sentence in line with the best practices of the English legal system on which we are assured the Cyprus legal system is based?
Could I please have the same opportunity? CY£3.6 Million around 6 million Euro in exchange for 15 months, I will even give back what I haven’t managed to spend and squirrell away overseas in the 8 years I can live on it – PLEASE!
This sentence just goes to show that crime DOES pay in Cyprus.
This lawyer isn’t related to the son of the former Attorney General or that lawyer in Paphos you was given a get out of jail card by the president and fined a measly €1,000 for misconduct by any chance?
How do you become a lawyer in Cyprus? The ‘profession’ appears to be above the law!
The Crook should have got 20 Years, shows you the extent of the Shame of Cyprus.
OMG . A crooked Cypriot lawyer! I wonder what will happen to him? Hopefully the world is waking up to what in the past has been the norm, and accepted. Not any more. Cyprus is slowly imploding with the help of it’s Lawyers, banks, and crooked developers.
15 months!
He was lucky he did not pocket a packet of fags from a kiosk.
Forgive me. I forgot he was a lawyer.