According to a service order, to which Lusa had access this Friday, some employees of the TC in full service "are registered as lawyers and trainee lawyers at the OAA and are practicing law".
This practice of law "is incompatible with the duties of a court clerk" and is a "clear violation of the Law of the Practice of Law and the code of ethics and deontology" of the OAA.
The TC also notes that the practice of law by an employee of this body in full exercise of his functions "clearly violates" the principles and norms of the judicial body's code of ethics and the declaration of incompatibility of functions provided in writing by lawyers.
In light of this finding, the presiding judge of the TC, Exalgina Gamboa, who signed the document, determines that all employees who are registered with the OAA "must notify the respective order that their status as employees of the TC is incompatible with the exercise of the practice of law".
The president of the Court of Auditors also determines a deadline of thirty days for all employees who are incompatible to "regularize the situation" with the OAA and to "remit to the court the evidentiary document attesting to the regularization".
"After the deadline has passed, the mechanisms will be set in motion to hold them accountable for violating the code of conduct and/or for the illegal practice of law, as well as to apply disciplinary measures, which may culminate in dismissal from the staff of the Court of Auditors," the service order urges.
The Court of Auditors is the "supreme organ" for inspecting the legality of public finances and judging the accounts that the law subjects to its jurisdiction.
This body issues an opinion on the State's General Account, supervises preventively, concomitantly and successively the acts and public contracts of any nature, controls the legality and regularity of revenue, expenditure, public debt, among others.
