A secretary who handled correspondence for former President Nicos Anastasiades and former parliament director Sokratis Sokratous will testify as a defence witness in the corruption trial of Demetris Syllouris and Christakis Giovanis.
The presidential letter was sent to officials, including Syllouris, a former House Speaker, with the then-president granting them authority to act in ways that would attract foreign investors to Cyprus following the economic crisis of 2013.
Defence lawyer Christos Triantafyllides, representing former parliament speaker Syllouris, will call the two witnesses including the secretary who drafted and sent the presidential correspondence.
Letter told officials to attract foreign investors
The trial stems from charges including conspiracy to subvert the Republic and influencing a public official following Al Jazeera’s October 2020 documentary exposing Cyprus’s citizenship investment programme. Both defendants resigned after the exposé aired.
Al Jazeera’s undercover investigation showed Syllouris and Giovanis offering to help a fictional Chinese businessman with a criminal record secure Cypriot citizenship for at least €2.15 million investment. Syllouris promised “full support” and said the applicant had a “99 percent” chance of success.
Prosecution evidence includes Syllouris receiving €200,000 for “providing services” to Giovanis’s property company, with Syllouris’s daughter receiving €70,000 in a separate deal. Syllouris contacted the interior ministry regarding naturalisation applicants who were “clients of Christakis Giovanis.”
A law firm founded by President Nicos Anastasiades, now owned by his daughters, processed golden passport applications whilst his son-in-law sold properties to citizenship investment programme investors.
Critics accused Anastasiades of having a conflict of interest through the law firm that he established, which processed citizenship applications. Investigations revealed that whilst Anastasiades was in office, 137 people were granted citizenship through the law firm bearing his name.
Court postpones proceedings until Thursday for witness availability
The Nicolatos inquiry committee found 53 percent of 6,779 citizenships granted under the scheme were unlawful, covering the period from 2007 through August 2020. The committee concluded politicians bore political responsibilities whilst certain applicants and service providers faced potential criminal culpability.
Triantafyllides requested a postponement as the two witnesses could not appear Tuesday. Defence counsel for Giovanis, Giorgos Papaioannou, was prepared to summon witnesses including Giovanis’s daughter and an employee.
The three-member judicial panel decided after brief recess to postpone proceedings until Thursday to accommodate witness availability. The Cyprus Investment Programme was terminated following the Al Jazeera revelations, with the European Union launching legal proceedings over claims the scheme sold passports to dubious individuals.
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