A two-agent FBI team accompanied by members of the United States embassy in Cyprus has begun work on the Sandy case in a support role, as Cypriot police prepare to seek judicial assistance from three countries to verify claims that have entered the public domain, sources told Phileleftheros.
The FBI agents met with investigators for around two hours, during which the terms of their involvement were agreed. Their role will be primarily supportive: Cypriot law does not permit foreign agents to participate in the investigative process or access witness statements.
Although Sandy’s statements have been translated, sources said they will not be shared with the FBI team; instead, certain data gathered to date will be passed to specialists in the United States for analysis.
The two agents noted that the American legal system differs fundamentally from Cyprus’s, meaning some legal tools available in the US cannot be applied in Cypriot courtrooms.
FBI specialists are expected to produce a profile of Sandy and an assessment of the overall case based on the data provided.
Three-country judicial assistance requests
Police investigators will send judicial assistance requests to Greece, Germany and France to verify claims made publicly by Makarios Drousiotis and Stelios Orphanides, sources told Phileleftheros.
The request to Greece will concern the involvement of two individuals named in messages passed to police or made public by Drousiotis. One of those named is Giorgos Mylonakis, who sources said remains in critical condition in intensive care.
The request to Germany will seek to establish through German authorities whether Sandy entered the country in March 2021 and stayed at a shelter for victims of abuse accompanied by her child.
Investigators had attempted to verify this claim using audio data, but sources said it has since been refuted — evidence showed that Sandy was in Cyprus at the time, employed at a specific company, with her employers identified and her social insurance contributions confirming she had not been absent from work for any significant period.
French authorities will be contacted over a claim that Sandy stayed as a teenager at a villa in Nice belonging to a former judge. That claim, which was accompanied by a photograph later found to have been stolen from the profile of a Cypriot student, has already been denied, sources said. Investigators nonetheless wish to formally close off the matter through official channels to place it beyond dispute.
Financial data
Investigators are also expected to extract financial data relating to individuals alleged in the messages under investigation to have been funding Sandy. Sources said that if bank account records do not support those claims, it will close another chapter and indicate that the messages were fabricated.
Further developments
Investigators recently took a statement from the father of Sandy’s child, who explained why he never formally recognised the child and said he had effectively been compelled to do so by a court order.
Sandy herself may be called before investigators again within the coming days to give detailed answers on the contents of the messages, with the aim of substantiating her account rather than simply issuing denials, sources said.
In a separate development, police issued one of their few public statements on the case following the FBI meeting, saying the special investigation team established to examine Drousiotis’s allegations was continuing its work at an intensive pace across all lines of inquiry. A large number of statements have been taken, with the process ongoing.
Evidence and testimony are being continuously evaluated, police said, with the aim of fully clarifying all aspects of the case. Europol experts are also expected to deliver the results of forensic examinations of exhibits. Police said their goal was to complete the investigation as soon as possible.
In a fresh social media post on Wednesday, Drousiotis accused police leadership of attempting to target him rather than pursue those responsible for what he described as “the looting of billions.”
He said police moves were being directed by associates of former President Nicos Anastasiades with the aim of intimidating him. “Come and arrest me, but you will not silence me,” he wrote.
Context
The investigation stems from a social media post by Drousiotis, a writer and parliamentary candidate, titled “Paedophilia, sell-offs, surveillance and rigged trials,” in which he named judges, senior officials and politicians, including former President Anastasiades.
The post included images presented as text message exchanges between political and judicial figures and referenced the surveillance van case, the Focus maritime investigation and loan sale arrangements under Project Helix.
Central to the allegations is a woman identified as Sandy, whom Drousiotis presented as a key witness to an alleged organised network involving current and former officials, judges and political figures.
Former Supreme Court judge Michalakis Christodoulou has acknowledged knowing Sandy, saying he met her between 2020 and 2021 and described his involvement as supportive. He has denied all allegations of wrongdoing.
Lawyer Nicos Clerides had previously brought material related to the case to former Bar Association president Christos Clerides, who urged that a police complaint be filed. The complaint was never made. All those named in the allegations have denied wrongdoing. The allegations remain unverified.
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