In 2018, Soheil Naderi is representing a client in an ongoing dispute. But shortly before the case is to be taken up in the district court, he announces that he is abroad and cannot participate in the hearing.
– When I leave the court shortly after this, I meet Soheil Naderi out on the street as he leaves his office, so we pass each other a few meters apart. This is the same day he said he was abroad, says councilor Dag Cohen, who was the judge in the case.
The wording that he is abroad and emigrated returns time and time again in cases when Soheil Naderi has been called to the district court, either as a legal representative or because former clients have sued him.
It is a crime to lie about where you live
He registered as an emigrant to Iran in 2019. Claiming to have emigrated is not entirely unusual when people want to stay away from the authorities, according to several experts that SVT spoke to.
– This is attractive if you don’t want the authorities’ light on you, and you want to stay away from, for example, taxation or debts. It’s a way of throwing gravel into the machinery, says Johannes Paulson, national coordinator at the Norwegian Kronofogden.
Lying about where you live is a civil registration offence, which can result in a fine or imprisonment of up to six months.
Rejected as an agent due to lies
In a couple of cases, Soheil Naderi has been rejected as a representative because the district court held that he lied about having been abroad.
It also happened in the 2018 case, after Dag Cohen ran into Soheil Naderi on the street.
– He had submitted an obviously false statement to the court. It is a serious matter. The second was that he did not seem to have the right legal insights to act as a representative in a legal process, he says.
SVT has sought Soheil Naderi for a comment, but he has not wanted to answer.
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