How much is the fine imposed upon lawyers in Vietnam for guiding clients to provide false information according to regulations?
- Is guiding clients to provide false information considered as a prohibited act?
- How much is the fine imposed upon lawyers for guiding clients to provide false information according to regulations?
- Will lawyers guiding clients to provide false information be suspended from their law practice certificates?
Is guiding clients to provide false information considered as a prohibited act?
Pursuant to the provisions of Article 9 of the 2006 Law on Lawyers in Vietnam as amended by Clause 3, Article 1 of the 2012 Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Lawyers, the prohibited acts are as follows:
Prohibited acts
1. Lawyers are prohibited to commit the following acts:
a) Providing legal services for clients that have conflicting interests in the same criminal, civil, administrative lawsuit, civil cases, or other cases as prescribed by law (hereinafter referred to as cases);
b) Deliberately providing, or guiding clients to provide, fake exhibits and documents; induce the detainees, suspects, defendants, litigants to provide false information, or induce clients to file illegal complaints, denunciations, or lawsuits;
c) Reveal information about the cases and the clients that they know during their practice, unless such clients concur in writing, or otherwise prescribed by law;
d) Harassing or deceiving clients
dd) Receiving or requesting any amount of money or benefit from clients apart from the agreed amount in the legal service contracts;
e) Cooperate with other presiding officers, litigants, officers, or officials, to violate laws when resolving cases;
g) Misusing the lawyer’s practice to negatively affect the national security and social order, to infringe the interests of the State, the public interests, and the legal interests of other organizations and individuals;
h) Receiving or requesting any amount of money or benefit when giving legal supports to the clients entitled to legal supports by statute; refusing to resolve the cases requested by legal support organizations, by the presiding agencies, except for force majeure as prescribed by law;
i) Insulting or assaulting other organizations and individuals during the proceedings;
k) Committing or helping clients to commit violations of law to delay or obstruct the activities of the presiding agencies and other State agencies.
2. Organizations and individuals are prohibited to obstruct the lawyers’ practice.
Thus, according to the above provisions, it can be understood that guiding clients to provide false information is one of the prohibited acts for lawyers.
How much is the fine imposed upon lawyers in Vietnam for guiding clients to provide false information according to regulations?
How much is the fine imposed upon lawyers for guiding clients to provide false information according to regulations?
In Clause 7, Article 6 of Decree No. 82/2020/ND-CP on handling of violations against regulations on law practice in Vietnam as follows:
Violation against regulations on law practice in Vietnam
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7. A fine of between VND 30,000,000 and 40,000,000 shall be imposed for one of the following acts:
a) Providing or instructing clients to provide false or untruthful documents and exhibits;
b) Guiding clients to provide false information or inciting clients to make illegal complaints or denunciations;
c) Disclosing information about cases, matters and clients that they know while practicing, unless otherwise agreed by the client or otherwise provided for by law;
d) Connecting and relating with procedure-conducting persons, procedure participants, cadres, civil servants and public employees in order to contravene law provisions in the settlement of cases and matters;
dd) Participating in enticing, inciting, bribing or forcing other people to gather in large numbers to disturb public order or commit illegal acts that are not serious enough to be prosecuted for penal liability;
e) Providing legal services, providing legal advice in the name of a lawyer or impersonating a lawyer to practice law; hang signboards when they have not been granted a law practice certificate or have not joined the Bar Association.
Thus, according to Point b, Clause 7, Article 6 of Decree No. 82/2020/ND-CP above, the fine for guiding clients to provide false information is from VND 30 million to VND 40 million.
Will lawyers guiding clients to provide false information be suspended from their law practice certificates?
Pursuant to the provisions of Clause 8, Article 6 of Decree No. 82/2020/ND-CP on additional penalties for violations against law practice as follows:
Violation against regulations on law practice in Vietnam
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7. A fine of between VND 30,000,000 and 40,000,000 shall be imposed for one of the following acts:
...
8. Additional sanctions:
a) Suspension of the right to use a law practice certificate or a foreign law practice license in Vietnam for between 01 and 03 months, for violations specified at Points a, b, c, d, dd and g Clause 3, Point a Clause 5 of this Article;
b) Suspension of the right to use the law practice certificate or the law practice license in Vietnam from 06 months to 09 months, for the violations specified at Point b, Clause 5, and Points c, d and e of Clause 5 of this Article. 6, Clause 7 of this Article;
c) Confiscate the exhibits being the law practice certificate, the law practice registration certificate, the law practice license in Vietnam of the foreign lawyer, the certificate of participation in the proceedings, the written notice of the foreign lawyer. notify the defense counsel that it has been erased or corrected, falsifying the contents specified at Point a, Clause 4 of this Article.
Thus, according to the above provisions, lawyers guiding clients to provide false information may be suspended from the right to use their law practice certificates or law practice licenses in Vietnam from 6 to 9 months.
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