The Romanian name of the individual who participated in some of the contacts with Giorgos Lakkotrypis, Charalambos Charalambous, and George Chrysochos is now known. As previously revealed by philenews, the person with an Eastern European accent introduced himself to Cyfield Director George Chrysochos as Florin Gheorghiu.
According to today’s publication in Phileleftheros (“F”), the meeting in the British capital lasted two hours and involved discussions on various issues. One of the participants in the scheme to intercept the material presented himself to Mr. Chrysochos with a name that resembles a Romanian name, and his accent suggested he was a national of an Eastern European country.
The name was revealed by journalist Tasos Telloglou on the main news bulletin of ANT1 Greece.
The well-known Greek journalist said that the person acting as the representative of the investment firm Stratix Wealth used the name of an 81-year-old Romanian chess player in his meetings with an associate of the President of the Republic and two businessmen.
The ‘Gheorghiu’ individual, according to information known to the Cyprus Police, communicated via videoconference with the Director of the President’s Office, Charalambos Charalambous, and Giorgos Lakkotrypis during the first 10 days of last December. The President’s close associate and the former government official spoke with the self-identified ‘Gheorghiu’ for approximately 45 minutes. Charalambous allegedly used a connection from the Presidential Palace (e.g., an official email address).
Florin Gheorghiu is the person who spoke for two hours with Cyfield Director George Chrysochos at the London meeting, details of which were revealed by Phileleftheros today. Meanwhile, the video creators left traces in Azerbaijan and Spain. They may have used servers in these countries to implement their goal.
The controversial visual material surfaced last Thursday on an account named “Emily Thompson” on the “X” platform. It presents edited snippets of statements by former government official Giorgos Lakkotrypis, the Director of the President’s Office Charalambos Charalambous, and Cyfield Group Director George Chrysochos.
The material (which is mounted/edited) attempts to project the image that the Christodoulides team used cash for his election campaign, exceeding the legal limit of €1 million. The video creators presented a picture of a mechanism for companies to contribute funds to the Presidential Palace in various forms to receive special services and have their requests promoted.
Following the video’s release, Giorgos Lakkotrypis filed a complaint with the Nicosia CID, alleging that his statements were spliced to serve a specific narrative and present him as saying that illegal cash was circulated.
From the outset, the Presidency of the Republic has spoken of a hybrid war and a fabricated video. Information that came to light recently suggested that an analysts’ report, commissioned by the Republic, indicates the attack is of Russian origin.
The incident began when Lakkotrypis was approached by individuals claiming to represent the company “Stratix Wealth,” who stated they wished to invest €150 million in the energy sector. Lakkotrypis, who previously served as Minister of Energy, Commerce, and Industry, was remunerated for his services to the company for a period of two years. Under the same pretext, they also met with Cyfield Director George Chrysochos, expressing interest in Cyfield’s private power generation station project in Vasilikos.