The lawyer holding a file of messages at the centre of a paedophilia and corruption scandal said on Monday he will hand the documents to authorities within the day, warning that the material points to wrongdoing that goes far beyond child abuse and “shakes the very foundations of our state.”
Nicos Clerides, who holds the archive and legally represents the woman known as Sandy, said he had already secured her indirect consent to release the records.
“I called her and told her they must be handed over, because if they are not, there is a way through the courts to issue a search order compelling me to do so,” he said.
Clerides said Sandy had not changed her position on refusing to testify to authorities, describing her as “in a state of confusion” and living under fear. “She has been through a great deal in her life,” he said, adding that he believed the chaos surrounding the case must be making her waver.
He stressed that the authenticity of the messages must be established beyond doubt before anything else. “The most important thing is to investigate and verify that they are genuine,” he said, noting that their leak before any such verification had created serious problems.
On the content of the archive, Clerides said more than 90% of the messages had nothing to do with paedophilia or serious criminal offences.
“They refer to unrelated matters — about a brotherhood, about political figures and institutions. They involve politically criminal actions,” he said. “We are talking about a scandal that shakes the foundations — not of the justice system, but of the existence of our state.”
Clerides said Sandy first contacted him years ago using a pseudonym, sending sporadic, confused messages claiming she had been abused as a child by a Supreme Court judge.
She approached him, he said, because of his public interventions against judicial corruption involving banks. “She trusted me because she thought I was fighting corruption,” he said.
Sandy was 12 or 13 years old at the time of the alleged abuse and is now 45, Clerides said. He said he had resisted pressure for her to go to the police, citing her current stability.
“You cannot force a woman who has three children and a balanced life today to reveal things that happened so many years ago,” he said.
He also disclosed that Sandy had at one point returned to a relationship with the man she accuses of raping her. “She told me it was Stockholm syndrome — love turns to hate,” Clerides said. “Then she told me she had to leave, and she did in fact flee to Germany.”
Asked whether Makarios Drousiotis had received the file from him, Clerides said he had not. “Drousiotis had the material subsequently, by other means,” he said. “When he came to me, I insisted we go to the police and that she give a statement on the paedophilia matter.”
Clerides said he had shared the material with other lawyers when he first received it, given its gravity. On why no action had been taken specifically regarding the paedophilia allegations, he said: “On that issue, you certainly cannot do anything without her. On the rest, they certainly should have been investigated.”
The case was brought to light when journalist and Volt parliamentary candidate Makarios Drousiotis a series of public claims touching on paedophilia, corruption and other serious misconduct. He says he has evidence to support them, including messages, audio, and photographs. The allegations have not been proven, and some people named have rejected them.