The independent criminal investigators appointed by the Council of Ministers to investigate the Anti-Corruption Authority’s findings on “Mafia State” have requested five investigators from the police to support their work.
Support role
The police investigator team will take up its duties soon in a supporting role to the criminal investigators. Their tasks will include taking statements alongside the criminal investigators, issuing warrants or orders where needed, and analysing financial and other data. Their role is considered decisive, since they will carry out instructions and help the criminal investigators with practical matters.
Each criminal investigator may be assigned a police investigator, with the group then operating as a team. Specific tasks will be assigned depending on the approach adopted. Because the probe will examine chapters already reviewed by the Anti-Corruption Authority’s inspection officers, the investigation is expected to run in parallel strands to speed up the process and produce results within a reasonable timeframe.
The criminal investigators, previously reported to have set up base at the Conference Centre in Nicosia, have been reviewing evidence gathered by the Independent Authority against Corruption since mid-July.
The two Greek criminal investigators, team head Vasileios Skouris and emeritus professor Ilias Anagnostopoulos, have left Cyprus following their first meeting at the Conference Centre to study the findings and are expected to return around the end of July. The three Cypriot criminal investigators, Sotiris Liasidis, Nikolas Koursaris and Dimitris Tsolakidis, will do the same.
Scale of the evidence
The material gathered by the five Independent Authority against Corruption inspection officers is vast. The final report runs to 3,000 pages, with a total of 793 exhibits submitted. Exhibits were submitted by 41 legal persons and government departments, while a total of 150 witnesses testified.
Timeline
The six months allocated to complete the investigation is not expected to be enough, given that the August leave period falls within that window and many persons of interest will be absent.
According to philenews information, the first witnesses are expected to be called either within August or in early September, and it is possible that requests will be made to open the bank accounts of persons under investigation, provided a legal basis exists to support such a request in court. The Unit for Combating Money Laundering (MOKAS) will also play a supporting role, while a team of lawyers will be formed at the Law Office to provide advice and guidance if requested by the criminal investigators.
The aim is to avoid involving the Law Office until the final stage, though this will depend on the progress of the investigations and the findings that emerge. The criminal investigators will convene at the Conference Centre, where a dedicated space has been set up, with secretarial and support staff provided.