The President has issued a proclamation requiring the Heath Commission’s Special Investigating Unit to investigate the defrauding of road crash victims by members of the legal profession.
The establishment of the investigation follows a Memorandum from the Minister of Transport Mac Maharaj to the Minister of Justice that certain legal practises be investigation by Judge Heath’s unit where road crash victims have been defrauded by their legal representatives. The proclamation will be published in the Government Gazette soon.
Maharaj said that the Road Accident Fund, of which he is the shareholding minister, has been aware of unethical and illegal behaviour by some members of the legal fraternity for a while after numerous complaints to both his office and the RAF. Of 143 cases investigated by the RAF and the Department of Transport, on average 56% of what was supposed to be paid to victims was kept by their lawyers and in six instances is appears that 100% of the amount the claimants were awarded was kept by their lawyers.
Source: Minister of Transport
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