Dismissal for our client, investigated for the crime of document forgery for driving with an allegedly fake license.

Our client was summoned to testify as an investigated party for the crime of document forgery following an investigation carried out by the Mossos d’Esquadra, which concluded that our client, a Russian national, had fraudulently obtained a Polish driving license and had presented it to the DGT in order to exchange it for a valid Spanish driving license. Due to these facts, the Court of Instruction No. 2 of Barcelona initiated preliminary proceedings against our client for the crime of document forgery.

In his statement, our client explained that his initial plan upon leaving Russia was to move to live and work in Poland with his wife, so he contacted a Polish agency to process the exchange of his Russian driving license for a Polish one. However, in the meantime, his partner received a job offer in Spain, so they both decided to change their plans and move to Spain. Once in Spain, the investigated party contacted a management (administrative agency) to begin the process of validating the Polish license for a Spanish one, unaware that the Polish license he had been issued was fake.

Following our client’s statement, SMK Lawyer submitted a written motion to the court requesting the dismissal of the proceedings. In this motion, we presented and proved that the Polish agency had requested the relevant documentation from our client, including his Russian driving license and international license, along with the corresponding payment for their services, which led him to believe that it was a legitimate agency and that the Polish license was perfectly valid.

We also stated and proved that, when applying to validate the Polish license for the Spanish one, our client had contacted a management in Barcelona, where he had signed the necessary documents and paid the corresponding fees, fully believing he was completing a completely legal procedure.

We further explained that the first time our client learned that the Polish license was fake was through a phone call from the police, and that after this call, our client attempted, unsuccessfully, to contact the Polish agency that had processed the license validation. He then discovered a warning on the agency’s website -which we attached to our motion- stating that the agency had been impersonated and that several people had been scammed: “ Beware of cheaters! They offer a fake driving license and code 95 on the internet! Our company does not cooperate with anyone who offers such services!”.

After we submitted our motion, the Public Prosecutor’s Office informed the court that the evidence provided by SMK Lawyer indeed demonstrated that our client was unaware that the Polish license was fake, and therefore could not be charged with the crime of document forgery. Immediately afterward, the judge presiding over the Court of Instruction No. 2 of Barcelona issued a ruling dated February 19, 2025, ordering the dismissal of the proceedings.