The dean of the Amsterdam Bar Association, which supervises the legal profession, believes that lawyer Gerald Roethof has seriously violated the rules for lawyers. This was reported by the Algemeen Dagblad. The suspicion is that Roethof leaked information from a criminal file, while this was not permitted because restrictions had been imposed on his client. Roethof has denied that accusation.
EncroChat
A hearing of the Amsterdam disciplinary board on the case was held in court on Monday.
The Public Prosecution Service informed the dean about the suspicion after messages from EncroChat became available indicating that Roethof had released information about a file.
Money amount
This concerns a case that took place in the summer of 2020. Roethof’s client was arrested and a large amount of money was found during a search. Because restrictions had been imposed on the suspect, neither he nor his lawyer were allowed to have contact with the outside world about the file.
The Encro messages repeatedly state that information comes from ‘the lawyer’. According to the justice department and the dean, there is every reason to think that it was indeed Roethof who leaked the information. The dean calls this signal ‘worrisome’.
During the hearing of the blanket objection, Roethof strongly denied that he leaked information.
Suspension
In addition to the issue of this possible leak from Roethof, he is also accused of previous disciplinary references, with the Council imposing a four-week suspension on Roethof in 2020, with a probationary period of two years.
The dean now wants a permanent suspension of four weeks for Roethof.
According to the dean, Roethof ‘often fell short in terms of communication.’
The Discipline Council will rule in both cases on March 25.
