The Attorney General expects to reach a final decision within days on whether to charge former Cyprus Football Association president Giorgos Koumas and others over alleged conflict of interest in the football TV rights affair.
Attorney General Giorgos Savvides yesterday issued a terse written statement making clear his displeasure with independent criminal investigator Alexandra Lykourgou’s recent public comments about the case.
“I consider that any public discussion on matters relating to the content of criminal investigations should be avoided,” he said.
Lykourgou fired back hours later, defending her decision to speak out. “Public opinion, I believe, should now be informed about such serious matters and the developments they may have,” she told the Cyprus News Agency.
She stressed her aim was to ensure such a serious case would not “stall.”
The Law Office, based on statements from an official published by Phileleftheros the day before yesterday and Savvides’ written statement, is in the final stages of assessing Lykourgou’s recommendations on potential offences examined during the investigation.
From long-running journalistic research, Lykourgou’s statements from Sunday until yesterday, information obtained by Phileleftheros and assessments from legal circles, it is considered certain that Koumas and other suspects faced examination for three offences.
Three potential charges
The first concerns conflict of interest under Article 14 of the 2017 Law on Combating the Manipulation of Sports Events, which carries up to three years imprisonment.
The law targets officials who are “directly or indirectly connected with a person who is professionally or systematically engaged in betting and/or sports events or has this activity as a sideline.”
Those familiar with the case who heard Lykourgou discuss felonies and examination of suspects’ banking data say with relative certainty that investigators probed money laundering from illegal activities.
A legal expert told Phileleftheros: “If the conflict of interest in relation to the management of TV rights is considered substantiated, then this act becomes illegal and if it generated any income, then the charge of money laundering comes into the frame.”
Lykourgou told Politis on Sunday: “There is reliable and sufficient evidence which justifies the filing of charges and bringing persons before the court, with charges for committing misdemeanours and felonies.”
The third offence considered certain to be in the frame concerns CFA officials’ refusal to cooperate with the Committee on Ethics and Protection of Sport. During the work of investigating officers Ilias Stefanou and Efthymios Th. Efthymiou, who completed their report in autumn 2023, CFA officials refused to submit financial statements and ignored summonses to testify.
Such behaviour may fall under Articles 7 and 17 of the legislation on combating manipulation of sports events, sources said.
Phileleftheros reported on 2 July that one CFA administrative officer “when the Committee on Ethics and Protection of Sport had called him to testify as part of its investigation into TV rights, he had not responded.”
Public clash over statements
The Attorney General’s rebuke came after Lykourgou expressed visible concern in recent days about delays in resolving the case. She submitted her report in May, whilst the investigative testimony process and submission of related material was completed on 18 July.
Savvides, whilst concise, did not avoid indirectly expressing disagreement with what Lykourgou said publicly. In his full written statement, he said:
“In relation to what is stated and recorded publicly regarding the examination by the Law Office of the Republic of the report of the criminal investigator appointed by the Attorney General to assist police investigations into a potential conflict of interest by a Cyprus Football Association (CFA) official, I clarify the following: The Law Office, acting responsibly, does not publicly discuss cases under criminal investigation or assessment. This is the Law Office’s established practice and aims to protect the criminal process. When there is a conclusion, either criminal cases are filed or, if the opposite is decided in a case of public interest, an announcement is issued explaining the decision. The assessment of the present case, due to its seriousness and complexity, is still ongoing and final decisions are expected soon.
Meanwhile, I consider that any public discussion on matters relating to the content of criminal investigations should be avoided.”
Lykourgou responded that what she has stated in her public statements “does not exceed what is absolutely necessary and proportionate and does not affect anyone’s legitimate interests or the presumption of innocence.”
“The state has allocated public resources so that I and the four police members serving in the Crime Combating Department could conduct and complete our investigation,” she noted. “Public opinion was informed because this was and is a high-profile case. Therefore it has the right to know what will happen and whether or not it will take the path of justice,” she added.
The Law Office’s recommendations are being examined by competent officials at the final assessment stage. What will be decided is whether to file a case in court. Whatever the Attorney General’s final decision, it will be accompanied by a lengthy announcement, as Phileleftheros wrote in yesterday’s edition.