WITHOUT PREJUDICE
North Cyprus Property Victims – Kulaksiz 5 Fiasco
“Justice delayed is justice denied” is a legal maxim meaning that if legal redress is available for a party that has suffered some injury, but is not forthcoming in a timely fashion, it is effectively the same as having no redress at all. This principle is the basis for the right to a speedy trial and similar rights which are meant to expedite the legal system, because it is unfair for the injured party to have to sustain the injury with little hope for resolution. The phrase has become a rallying cry for legal reformers who view courts or governments as acting too slowly in resolving legal issues either because the existing system is too complex or overburdened, or because the issue or party in question lacks political favour”.
I think it would be fair to say that there is not even one property victim in north or south Cyprus who is NOT being denied justice. The whole saga is a long process and anyone who believes that this is not deliberate is living in ‘cloud cuckoo land’.
Now because the Girne court administration ‘cocked’ up yet again, the most infamous set of victims, the K5, are being asked to pay for this mistake. Yes, the most popular Advocate, the Bank’s advocate will be looking for costs for the Hearing to reinstate the K5 case whether the judge rules in their favour or not. Make no mistake, it is not a foregone conclusion and if it goes against the K5, it is likely another long wait for a High Court Appeal date will follow. There is still an Appeal date being awaited because the same Judge ruled against the K5 being allowed an amendment to be added to their main case. Why, you might ask would a Judge cancel such a high profile legal case because of court administration error?
This is happening to the K5 simply because the weakness in the existing laws ‘appear’ to allow the former owners of property to take a mortgage on property they have sold. Yes, anywhere else it would be a joke, but in Cyprus, it is not and no one is laughing. Tell me, where else in the world would a mortgage be given to people who have sold the security they offer to the lending source?
This is not just a K5 problem. It is a problem for so many purchasers who bought in good faith and were betrayed by the vendor and the lending sources.
Add the memorandum fiasco to the numbers involved and you go into the thousands. There seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel and those involved, waiting to the outcome of the first case (K5), had better look to spending a lot more time and a lot more money on gaining what is rightfully theirs. There are no guarantees of success.
Pauline Read
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