A report by the Independent Authority Against Corruption has recommended the criminal prosecution of a former minister, according to findings described as highly critical, over a series of state land management decisions and related transactions that it says may have caused significant losses to public assets.
At the centre of the investigation is the allocation of valuable state land in Ayia Napa to the Church of Cyprus as compensation for expropriated ecclesiastical land in Engomi. The inquiry, which draws on material linked to revelations by author Makarios Drousiotis in his book State Mafia, examined the decision-making process behind the land transfer.
The report also references a wider context of relations between then-President Nicos Anastasiades and the late Archbishop Chrysostomos II, including claims that financial requests from the Archbishopric were frequently made and often approved during that period.
Within this broader narrative, investigators examined the purchase of a 1,739 sq m residential plot in the prestigious Mesovounia area of Germasogeia by the wife of the former president, Andri Anastasiades. The contract, signed on 3 February 2014, recorded a purchase price of €500,000, with a €40,000 cash deposit paid in 800 €500 notes. The property had previously been estimated by valuers at around €870,000 and is located near the presidential residence, also used by the president’s security detail.
According to the report, the land transaction involving the Church followed a government decision approved in October 2013, after a ministerial committee had recommended in July 2013 that the case be treated as “exceptional” and that state land be granted in Ayia Napa.
Investigators found that the administrative file contained no valuation report or methodological documentation supporting the €5,712,000 figure used in the approval process. Subsequent cadastral data showed that the eight parcels transferred to the Church had a market value of €10,638,300 based on 2013 general valuations, significantly higher than the amount presented to government bodies.
The Authority’s inspection officers concluded that this discrepancy may indicate a serious loss to the state and damage to the public interest.
The findings place former agriculture minister Nicos Kouyialis under scrutiny. He was a member of the relevant ministerial committee that endorsed the proposal. Investigators said he supported the decision without ensuring that the valuation and “exceptional case” justification had been adequately substantiated, raising questions of possible abuse of power. However, they noted no evidence that he received any personal or financial benefit, and therefore the alleged offence is treated as a misdemeanour rather than a felony.
This marks the second time the Anti-Corruption Authority has recommended criminal proceedings against Kouyialis, following an earlier case linked to the Trimiklini scandal, where similar recommendations were made regarding alleged misconduct involving public officials.
According to information cited in the report, police have since obtained a court order and sought financial and property records from state services and banking institutions relating to individuals involved in the Trimiklini case.
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