Cyprus has referred disputed digital evidence at the centre of the so-called Sandy scandal to Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre (EC3) for forensic examination, Justice Minister Costas Fytiris announced on Wednesday following a Cabinet meeting.
Sandy is the alias of a woman alleged to be the source of contested telephone messages that purportedly implicate senior officials in a criminal network and the commission of serious offences.
Fytiris told reporters that the evidence secured so far would be sent to Europol immediately, with next steps to be decided on the basis of the results.
“The investigations are continuing, the police are continuing their investigations and taking statements,” he said. He added that a decision on whether to appoint an independent investigator would follow after Easter, once Europol’s findings are received and the Cabinet has been briefed.
The Cabinet decision follows a public complaint by journalist Makarios Drousiotis, who brought the disputed material to light. Asked about Drousiotis’s public statements, Fytiris said: “I don’t know what Mr Drousiotis means. If someone is being threatened they can go to the police.”
The EC3, Europol’s specialist cybercrime unit, handles digital forensics, cybercrime, and online fraud at EU level. Experts who spoke to philenews said physical devices are critical to any complete forensic assessment of digital files.
A full analysis of a digital image requires access to the handset itself in order to verify authenticity, they said. Even when a newer device has replaced an older one, files transferred between handsets leave digital traces that can be examined. “You need the devices to do a complete job,” one expert told philenews.
It has not been confirmed whether the three-member investigation team, based at the Police Academy, has obtained search warrants to seize the handsets of individuals allegedly in contact with Sandy. Journalistic reports, including a broadcast by reporter Cleo Vourkou on Alpha television, indicate that police have already seized Sandy’s mobile phone and that it will be forwarded to Europol.
The forensic approach mirrors that used by Alexis Mavros, the expert who conducted a forensic examination of three mobile phones belonging to former MEP Papadakis on his behalf, basing his findings on the handsets’ own records.
Philenews obtained more than 150 digital files last Sunday, the contents of which were published the following day. The material presents a broader picture than that previously reported by Drousiotis.
The disputed screenshots purportedly show senior officials in exchanges with Sandy and suggest the existence of a para-judicial network with executive branch involvement. Drousiotis separately submitted 137 files to authorities, accompanied by a 34-page note, in which he alleged child sexual abuse.
Philenews said the 150-plus files in its possession do not in themselves demonstrate such an offence — that conclusion, could only be reached through interpretation of the messages’ content. The files also lack timestamps, some lack clear indicators of the parties involved, and all remain subject to verification.
Nicos Clerides, who had initially been presented as Sandy’s lawyer, gave a different account on Wednesday of how she approached him. Speaking on CyBC’s programme “Apo Mera Se Mera,” Clerides told journalist Tasos Christodoulou that he first encountered Sandy around late 2019 or early 2020, describing her approach as involving aliases, confused messages, and allegations of sexual abuse by a Supreme Court judge.
“I was very cautious because she approached me with pseudonyms, confused messages, about sexual abuse by a Supreme Court judge and other unrelated things, and I didn’t take her seriously,” he said. “She bombarded me with unrelated messages. Every now and then she’d throw in one of the issues we’re discussing now.”
He said she later attempted to contact him again through a fake Facebook profile. Asked whether Sandy had flirted with him, Clerides replied: “Yes, and then I blocked her.”
He added that she approached him again weeks later, and that it was during the Covid period that she sent him the messages which, he said, “when you read them, it is impossible not to perceive that there is plausibility to them.”
Clerides had stated separately to CNA on Tuesday that he would cease to consider Sandy his client if it were confirmed that she had retracted and admitted to fabricating the messages. “She testified that everything is false and fabricated by her, under the influence of fear,” he said.